Photo: autoevolution
We’ve known for a while that Apple wants to make Apple Maps the go-to navigation app on the iPhone. While the company doesn’t seem to be in a rush to release major updates to compete against Google Maps, the improvements it ships at this painfully-slow pace are good news nonetheless.
This week, for example, the Cupertino-based tech giant brought cycling directions, which debuted in Apple Maps with the release of iOS 14 last fall, to more locations in the United States, including San Diego, California, and Portland, Oregon.
These locations add to mainland China, London, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, all of which are already supported for cycling navigation in Apple Maps.
While this isn’t much at first glance, there’s no doubt Apple’s Google Maps alternative is evolving, and the features the company is working on are quite big news.
For example, iOS 14.5 beta, which is now available for developers and public testers, updates Apple Maps with support for incident reporting during navigation. In other words, Apple Maps is getting a touch of Waze, another Google-owned app that relies on crowdsourcing for more effective navigation, especially in crowded areas.
Apple Maps will thus allow users to report things like speed cameras along their routes, and it’s believed Apple will further expand this new feature with more items at some point in the future.
So eventually, Apple could make Apple Maps the rival Waze never had, though there’s no doubt it’ll take a while for the Cupertino-based firm to accomplish its goal given the pace it uses for updates.
At this point, however, both Google Maps and Waze are among the top choices when it comes to navigation behind the wheel not only on Android but on iPhone too. Plus, they come with support for iPhones and CarPlay, thus providing the full feature package to everybody in Apple’s own playground.
These locations add to mainland China, London, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, all of which are already supported for cycling navigation in Apple Maps.
While this isn’t much at first glance, there’s no doubt Apple’s Google Maps alternative is evolving, and the features the company is working on are quite big news.
For example, iOS 14.5 beta, which is now available for developers and public testers, updates Apple Maps with support for incident reporting during navigation. In other words, Apple Maps is getting a touch of Waze, another Google-owned app that relies on crowdsourcing for more effective navigation, especially in crowded areas.
Apple Maps will thus allow users to report things like speed cameras along their routes, and it’s believed Apple will further expand this new feature with more items at some point in the future.
So eventually, Apple could make Apple Maps the rival Waze never had, though there’s no doubt it’ll take a while for the Cupertino-based firm to accomplish its goal given the pace it uses for updates.
At this point, however, both Google Maps and Waze are among the top choices when it comes to navigation behind the wheel not only on Android but on iPhone too. Plus, they come with support for iPhones and CarPlay, thus providing the full feature package to everybody in Apple’s own playground.
Google News