Apple Maps

Over the last decade, CarPlay has become ubiquitous on almost all makes and models of cars. Consumers love it too. In fact, Apple has said before that 80% of new car buyers require CarPlay as a specification before making their purchase.

However, this argument is less satisfactory when it comes to electric vehicles. Aside from Tesla or Rivian, almost all EVs come with CarPlay installed, but its utility is greatly diminished. CarPlay support for electric vehicle routing is just weak. Apple really needs to step on the gas and get its act together …

iOS 19 will be unveiled next month, but plenty of iPhone users still haven’t discovered all the new features of the last major update. Apple Maps, for example, scored a great addition inspired by the Notes app in iOS 18, but it’s completely hidden by default. Here are the details.

My favorite moments with Apple Maps are when I’m not going anywhere physically, but rather browsing the app and saving new places to visit. And an iOS 18 upgrade has made that experience better than ever.

You may have seen Apple Maps survey cars in your area before. As they drive around, the cars take photos and 3D scans to generate ground truth data that can be used to improve map accuracy and offer features like Look Around, Apple’s equivalent of Google Street View.

But now the data collected from these cars will also have another purpose. In an updated disclosure on the Apple Maps Image Collection website, Apple says that starting this month, imagery from its vehicle surveys will also be used to train generative AI models, like those used for Apple Intelligence features such as Image Playground and Clean Up.

Apple Maps is great for navigation, but I especially love using the app to browse new areas, find a great coffee shop, and plan outings and adventures. For those use cases, iOS 18 brought a key change to search in Apple Maps that somehow has been missing for years: you can now search the specific area you’re viewing on the map. And that’s been a huge answered wish for me.

Apple quietly launched a new app on Friday called “Maps Surveyor,” which lets users contribute to Apple Maps by collecting data about their surroundings and sending it to the company. However, not everyone can use the new app.

Apple is rolling out a notable update to Apple Maps EV Routing for Ford drivers. Starting today, Ford Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning drivers can use Apple Maps EV Routing via CarPlay to plan road trips that include Tesla Superchargers – or any station that uses the North American Charging Standard (NACS) connector.

According to Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter, Apple is once again considering monetizing its Maps app with search ads. The company already does this with its News and Stocks apps. The goal is to boost its in-house advertising business.

Apple Maps has quietly expanded its support for cycling in the United Kingdom and Ireland this week. Users are discovering they can now route cycling journeys across the length and the breadth of the country.

Apple first launched cycling directions in Maps in late 2020, although at first it was U.S only in a smattering of cities. Support for cycling navigation in the UK has been available for a while, but coverage was patchy … until now.

Yesterday, Google Maps updated the Gulf of Mexico’s name for US users to read ‘Gulf of America’ instead. Now, it seems that Apple Maps is quickly following suit.

Apple Maps is about to get a notable upgrade that will lead to more efficient EV routing suggestions for Ford Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning drivers.

Apple in June introduced a beta version of Apple Maps on the web, allowing users of other platforms such as Windows PCs to access its map service directly from a web browser. Although the beta was quite limited at launch, it is now getting an important new feature, which is Look Around.

Apple Maps may have had a shaky start, but it has undoubtedly grown very compelling over the years. One area that’s still hit or miss, though, is integrations with third-party services like Yelp. But that Yelp integration is about to get better.

The major upgrade for Apple Maps with iOS 18 is topographic hiking trails (same with iPadOS 18, watchOS 11, and macOS Sequoia). New features include detailed planning and guidance for custom hikes, the ability to save the maps offline, elevation details, and more. Here’s how to use Apple Maps topographic hiking trails.

iOS 18 is a huge release for iPhone users and the system apps many of us rely on each day. Joining updates for Notes, Reminders, Photos, another built-in app that just got upgraded is Apple Maps. Here’s everything new that iOS 18 brings to the Maps app.

Apple Maps real-time transit information has now gone live in Tokyo, providing access to live timings for more than 20 railway, bus and tram lines.

Apple notes that iOS 18 will also bring topographic maps to Japan, allowing hikers, cyclists, and others to see the elevations of their planned routes …

Apple Maps has come a long, long way since its initial release with iOS 6 in 2012, and I prefer it in almost every way to Google Maps and Waze. However, there’s one reason I still find myself using Google Maps for planning: reviews, ratings, and pictures.

Apple is bringing Apple Maps to the web for the first time. In a press release today, the company announced that you can now access Apple Maps on the web using Safari and Chrome on Mac and iPad, as well as Chrome and Edge on Windows PCs.

The major upgrade for Apple Maps with iOS 18 is topographic hiking trails (same with iPadOS 18, watchOS 11, and macOS Sequoia). New features include detailed planning and guidance for custom hikes, the ability to save the maps offline, elevation details, and more. Here’s how to use Apple Maps topographic hiking trails.

Hidden in iOS 18 is much-needed, long-requested update to Apple Maps. There’s finally a “Search here” button that makes it far easier to find what you’re looking for in places that aren’t your current location.