Posts tagged with "Apple Maps"

Apple Maps Launches in Beta on the Web

Today, Apple has launched Apple Maps on the web in a surprise announcement. This beta version of Apple Maps on the web is accessible via the url beta.maps.apple.com, and is said by the company to be compatible with Google Chrome, Safari, and Microsoft Edge on Windows. Additionally, developers will now be able to link out to Apple Maps on the web using MapKit JS.

Apple Maps on the web seems to be rather limited so far. The web app supports panning and zooming on the map, searching and tapping on locations, looking up directions, and browsing curated guides. However, it isn’t currently possible to tilt the map to view 3D building models or terrain elevation, and directions are limited to Driving and Walking. Look Around (Apple’s equivalent to Google Street View) is not available on the web either, but Apple says the feature will arrive in the coming months.

The web UI itself is reminiscent of Apple Maps on macOS and iPadOS. Recent locations can be found in a sidebar, and buttons to navigate the map are located in the top-right and bottom-right-hand corners of the page.

Just like on macOS and iPadOS, location details open in a collapsible sidebar.

Just like on macOS and iPadOS, location details open in a collapsible sidebar.

Curated guides and satellite imagery are also supported in Apple Maps on the web.

Curated guides and satellite imagery are also supported in Apple Maps on the web.

Directions are limited to Driving and Walking.

Directions are limited to Driving and Walking.

In my testing, performance across Apple Maps on the web isn’t stellar in Safari. I’m observing stutters in transition animations, as well as when panning the map. In Google Chrome, however, the web app feels significantly smoother. If you attempt to access Apple Maps from Firefox, the app will not load and redirect you to Apple’s (short) list of supported browsers. The same message is displayed if you access the URL from Safari on iOS.

Firefox isn't supported yet.

Firefox isn’t supported yet.

Apple Maps on the web is a welcome addition. Google Maps has always been available on the web for all to use, and I’m glad to finally see Apple try and compete beyond its native apps on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Hopefully more languages and features are coming to the web version soon.

Apple Announces New Features Coming to Its Services This Fall→

Alongside updates to Apple’s platforms and Apple Intelligence, the company announced an assortment of new features coming to its line of services this fall. From the press release in Apple Newsroom:

“So many of our users rely on Apple services throughout their day, from navigating their commute with Apple Maps, to making easy and secure payments with Apple Pay, to curating playlists with Apple Music,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Services. “We’re excited to give them even more to love about our services, like the ability to explore national parks with hikes in Apple Maps, redeem rewards or access installments with Apple Pay, and enjoy music with loved ones through SharePlay in Apple Music.”

I like that this services roundup is becoming an annual WWDC tradition. Some of these features were mentioned or shown on-screen during the keynote, but it’s easy for them to get overlooked in light of major operating system changes. While they might seem small in comparison, improvements to Apple’s services can have lasting day-to-day impacts on those who use them, myself included.

A few of my favorite services updates this year:

  • A new Places Library in Maps that allows you to save locations and write notes about them.
  • Tap to Provision, an easier way to add credit and debits cards to Wallet by tapping them instead of entering card numbers.
  • Redesigned event tickets in Wallet that can feature new types of data, including parking and weather information.
  • The Library tab in Apple Fitness+ for quicker access to saved workouts, Custom Plans, and Stacks.
  • Redesigned iCloud settings to better surface recommendations and features you’re using.

Check out the press release for all the updates coming to Apple’s services this fall. There’s a lot to look forward to there, and I’m happy to see the company continuing to push its services forward.

You can follow all of our WWDC coverage through our WWDC 2024 hub or subscribe to the dedicated WWDC 2024 RSS feed.

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Apple Services Preview: Better Integration, Increased Customization, and Sharing Options

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Apple’s services have become an increasingly important part of the company’s product lineup, but they didn’t get a lot of time at WWDC this year. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some interesting new features coming with OS releases and beyond. There are a wide variety of updates coming that promise to better integrate services, allow for greater user customization and sharing, plus provide other day-to-day enhancements.

Apple Podcasts

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Perhaps the best example of Apple’s approach to services this year is Apple Podcasts, which will add new software features and act as the glue that integrates other services. My favorite upcoming feature is Podcasts’ new queueing system. Episodes of shows can be added to a listening queue from any list of episodes by long-pressing on an episode or using the More menu and choosing ‘Add to Queue,’ which appends the episode to the bottom of your queue.

Tapping the queue button from the Now Playing screen reveals the Playing Next screen, which includes the current episode at the top, along with any upcoming episodes that you’ve queued for playback with drag handles for reordering the list. If you finish everything in your queue, Podcasts reverts to Up Next, the app’s automatically-generated list of suggested next episodes. The Playing Next screen also includes a triangular disclosure button for revealing chapter titles in podcast episodes that include them. Tapping a chapter title skips to that chapter.

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Apple Adds Live Music Features to Maps and Music

Source: Apple.

Source: Apple.

Today, Apple has launched new Apple Maps and Music features for live music fans. Apple Maps has added more than 40 Guides highlighting over 10 venues worldwide. In addition to editorial content about the music scenes in the featured cities, users can learn more about each venue and its upcoming shows using features that the Shazam app incorporated last spring, using information from Bandsintown.

Apple Music Guides.

Apple Music Guides.

In the Music app, Apple has created a new category called Set Lists that offers information about major artists’ concerts, along with a playlist of songs they’re playing on tour. Apple’s press release says users can browse upcoming shows of the artists spotlighted in Set Lists using the same Shazam tools that power the similar Apple Maps feature too.

Set Lists. Source: Apple.

Set Lists. Source: Apple.

The new Apple Music Guides announced today include Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York City, San Francisco, Berlin, London, Paris, Vienna, Tokyo, Melbourne, Sydney, and Mexico City. To view the guides, you can visit apple.co/MusicVenues. Set Lists are beginning to appear in Apple Music, too, although as of publication, I’ve only been able to locate them via search. Later, you should be able to browse all Set Lists at apple.co/setlists too.

It’s fantastic to see Apple Music and Maps expanding into live music. These sorts of features are something that Federico and I have been hoping Apple would implement for years, and I hope with time, we’ll see more guides for more cities around the world as well as a growing collection of Set Lists.

Apple Launches a New Program Allowing Business Owners to Manage Their Place Cards in Maps and Other Apps

Today, Apple introduced a new online tool called Apple Business Connect that allows businesses to customize the information listed in Apple Maps Maps, Messages, Wallet, Siri, and other apps.

According to Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Services:

We created Business Connect to provide Apple users around the world with the most accurate information for places to eat, shop, travel, and more. Apple Business Connect gives every business owner the tools they need to connect with customers more directly, and take more control over the way billions of people see and engage with their products and services every day.

There are a couple of components to Apple Business Connect:

  • A free online tool where businesses can claim their place cards, which include the details about their businesses in apps like Maps, and customize how it appears
  • An API for businesses with 25 or more locations that integrates with third parties that provide location listing services

In addition to providing a self-service path for business owners, Apple has expanded the features of place cards to include Showcases that provide a way for businesses to highlight promotions, seasonal menu items, discounts, and more. Showcases are available today in the US. Apple says Showcases will roll out globally in the coming months.

To register, business owners can visit the Apple Business Connect website, which requires a desktop or laptop computer and an Apple ID. Once logged in and verified by Apple, businesses can personalize their place cards.

Currently, the data in place cards is predominantly supplied by Yelp, although TripAdvisor, Wikipedia, and other sources like users’ photos are also used. Apple Business Connect puts business owners in control, which I expect will result in more accurate and timely updates to place cards, although hopefully, Apple has put some quality-control oversight in place too. The new program also has the added benefit to Apple of cutting the cost of sourcing data from Yelp and others. Having moved recently from Chicago, where place cards were reliably up-to-date, to North Carolina, where the quality of the cards is less reliable, I’m looking forward to seeing how quickly business owners sign up to claim their locations and whether they keep the cards up-to-date.

The 2022 MacStories OS Preview Series: Maps and CarPlay

I recently moved from Illinois to North Carolina, and I don’t know the area at all. As a result, I’ve been using Maps and CarPlay a lot since I got here. The new features coming this fall to each aren’t as extensive as they’ve been in past years, but there are several small changes that represent the kind of incremental, ‘quality of life’ improvements that I expect users will appreciate.

Maps

Because so much of Apple Maps relies on methodically mapping the world bit by bit, many users are stuck waiting for Maps’ underlying data to catch up with the app’s features. The more detailed maps and 3D models of landmarks introduced last year are good examples. Both came with asterisks because they were only available in certain cities or countries at launch.

This year is a little different. Apple announced new countries and cities where you’ll find the company’s more detailed maps, 3D landmarks, and other changes, but this year, multi-stop routes and tweaks to Maps’ routing UI will be available to everyone at the same time. It’s a nice mix of brand-new features and incremental improvements that includes something for everyone.

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CNN Interviews Apple Maps’ Product and Design Leads→

Jacob Krol, writing for CNN, interviewed Apple Maps’ David Dorn, its product lead, and Meg Frost, its design lead, about the app’s steady improvements since its introduction in 2012. The story covers many of the features added in the fall with the release of Apple’s latest OS updates, which we’ve covered before, but adds the context of what Dorn and Frost’s teams were trying to accomplish with the changes. For example, with respect to complex roadways the updates have meant that:

“At a glance, drivers can understand a complex intersection more quickly than ever before,” said Frost. “And that detail helps with that split-second decision of which turn they’re going to make. So we want it to be both safer and visually satisfying to navigate.”

It was also interesting to learn that each of the 3D elements added to a handful of cities, and have begun to expand to new locales, are handmade by Apple’s designers:

“We pick the amount of detail we find appropriate and create a 3D mesh of the building landmark itself. And we apply it to the base map,” explained Frost.

In the past couple of years, Apple Maps has really hit its stride, at least in the places that I’ve used it. Maps are more detailed, I’ve encountered far fewer errors than in the past, and the experience of using the app with CarPlay is excellent. Although it’s nearly 10 years old now, Apple Maps still feels new to me because of the relentless iteration on the original app. By its nature, Maps demands constant attention, but it also shows how a competitive app category goes a long way toward keeping an app fresh and innovative.

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Mapper Safari Extension Automatically Redirects Google Maps Links to Apple Maps

All of these place links get redirected to Apple Maps with Mapper.

All of these place links get redirected to Apple Maps with Mapper.

Ever since Apple rolled out the redesigned and improved Apple Maps in Italy last month, I’ve been increasingly switching my usage of maps for exploration and turn-by-turn directions from Google to Apple Maps. I prefer Apple’s overall design sensibilities, I find Look Around drastically superior to Google Street View, and the integration with Apple Maps and the Lock Screen for turn-by-turn navigation is excellent.

However, I still have to keep Google Maps installed on my iPhone for all those times when a particular point of interest (usually a shop or restaurant) isn’t showing up in Apple Maps’ search results. And because the Google Maps app is still installed on my iPhone, every time I tap a search result with an address from Google search, it automatically redirects to Google Maps. I’ve always found this annoying, but now even more so since I consider Apple Maps my primary navigation app here in Rome.1 Now, thanks to a Safari extension, that Google Maps redirect nightmare is finally over.

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