Apple seems to be preparing to announce a web version of its MapKit framework, allowing anyone to embed an Apple Map view into a web page. On the WWDC microsite, Apple has embedded its own map object in the page to show attendees how to get between Moscone West and the Bill Civic auditorium, where the Monday keynote will be held. Looking at the code, it appears Apple wants to make this embeddable map a public API in the (near?) future so anyone could add an Apple Map to their website.
The map allows user interaction like you might expect with panning, zooming and such. Behind the scenes, the Apple map uses a HTML5 <canvas> element to render the custom cartography. Right now, MapKit is exclusive to iOS and Mac apps, ostensibly funded by the revenue Apple brings in from the sale of App Store apps.
From a business perspective, it is unclear why Apple would want to open up its API to web developers. Today, most developers use embedded Google Maps to display maps on their websites due to its ubiquity. Although other mapping options exist, a high-profile entrance of Apple into the space would provide strong competition to Google’s offering.
This is not the first time Apple has used Apple Maps in a website context. It has used its own mapping across several online sites, including the Find My iPhone app on iCloud.com. However, the framework code for those implementations never seemed to be meant for wider usage outside of Apple.
The MapKit JS API used for the WWDC website is not like this. It features a logical structure, good named symbols and access is gated by a developer API key. It appears to be a well-formed framework meant to be used by many people, with various delegate hooks for customisation. In the case of the WWDC website, the map has been adorned with several custom pins highlighting importation event locations.
The version number of the MapKit framework is also significantly different to what has been used before. Whereas Find my iPhone uses a MapKit script with a ‘v1’ numbering, the WWDC Apple Map is named as a ‘v3’ iteration. The copyright claims also indicate that the framework is under active development, spanning 2015-2016. These signals suggest Apple will announce a new web MapKit API at WWDC 2016. There is also the chance that Apple is merely updating the framework to improve its internal codebase and has no plans to release it as a public developer feature.
Apple may introduce this embedding feature as part of a larger project. We have heard some rumblings that Apple is planning to unveil a fully-fledged Maps web-app for public use, just like the Apple Maps iPad or Mac app … in the same way people can visit maps.google.com and use Google services to map out trips. It would make sense to announce an embed option as part of that wider reveal, although we could not find a reference to such a service in the code. Right now, the maps.apple.com URL simply redirects to information about the iOS Maps app.
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Wonder if Apple could try to replace Here on Bing or Yahoo searches. I don’t see what the advantage of a web app would be when you have the Map app on iOS and Mac. Makes more sense for Apple to partner with a search engine or websites.
Makes sense to me. It goes along with web support on CloudKit. If MapKit supported web too I could extend apps to the web without having to think about Google or whatever. And of course there’s what happens with the data aspect, I don’t suspect Apple would use it in the same way Google and other would.
It’s already loads from https://cdn.apple-mapkit.com/mk/3.0.0/mapkit.js
I guess the URL will be apple-mapkit.com
Isn’t Apple maps embedded on iCloud.com?
They also embed Apple Maps on their website’s store locator.
Find My iPhone on iCloud.com has been using Apple’s MapKit JS library since 2014… probably before that. But it wasn’t public.
If you look at the source code of the page, immediately visible link to mapkit.js
Really hope rhey come with a public api for web at wwdc. I have apps using the native map api, but for ita web-counterpart, I have to use Google. This is a problem, because they calculate routes differently. So results are not the same within the app and on the web. The solution now is to make a static image of the calculated route on a mac mini server, and let the webserver display it. This does not allow manipulation of the map, like panning, zooming and so on. A web API would be great!
I’ve already seen the embedded map yesterday on the store locator.
Here’s the web mapkit: https://cdn.apple-mapkit.com/mk/3.0.0/mapkit.js
Finally! Next up, let me import my .gpx files, create (smart)folders and let me export my routes for (Garmin) devices.
/dream
I hacked together a working example in the browser: http://fruitymaps.com/
Not sure why Apple is not porting Map to Windows ? It should work like Google Map on windows. Than I can probably create my route on larger screen windows desktop and send route to my iPhone before start driving for the destination. That would be great.
You could, of course, simply get a Mac. Which would, after just one hour of use, allow you to map out all the flaws there are in Windows.