Apple Maps

In another example of Apple walking a fine line with global governments, it has changed how Crimea is displayed in its Maps and Weather apps after heeding Russian demands.

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Apple Maps first launched in iOS 6 to much excitement. Previously, Google Maps had powered the iPhone maps experience, but the relationship between Apple and Google became strained as Google held critical features of the mapping experience from the iPhone. If you remember back to that period, Google Maps on the iPhone didn’t even have built-in turn-by-turn directions. Apple began the process of replacing Google Maps with Apple Maps and unveiled its work during the WWDC 2012 keynote.
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In iOS 13, integrated into the Apple Maps app on your iPhone, you can you share your journey status with personal contacts in a feature called Share ETA.

The recipient receives the address of your destination and your expected arrival time. What’s really cool about this feature is that the estimated time of arrival (ETA) will update automatically, so you can see if they hit traffic or otherwise get delayed.

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Apple has announced that it will start ground truth surveys in Canada from today. Apple will be driving sensor-equipped car fleets around the country to collect road details, signage and landmarks throughout the year to improve Apple Maps in Canada.

Apple will incorporate this information into its modern Apple Maps dataset, which is being rebuilt literally from the ground up.

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Apple Maps offers directions by car, public transit, ride-sharing services, and walking – but there’s one notable omission: there are no cycling routes in Apple Maps.

Cycling routes in Google Maps have existed since 2010 – and it had been a top-requested feature for a couple of years before that. Why has Apple not managed this almost a decade later?

There are three reasons this needs to be a priority for Apple …

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Apple today launched support for turn-by-turn directions in Apple Maps for India, an emerging market that Apple has pinpointed for future growth potential.

Now, Indian iPhone customers or tourists can get precise routing throughout the country. Apple also launched support for ride-hailing apps Uber and Ola, so you can request rides from inside of Maps using the two biggest taxi app in India.

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Waze CEO recently sat down for an interview with Business Insider, and spoke about the company’s $1 billion acquisition by Google, self-driving cars, and why the company attributes Waze’s widespread success to Apple and celebrates an annual “Tim Cook Day.”

The reasoning dates back to 2012, when Apple Maps’ debacle proved a worst case scenario for the company, forcing CEO Tim Cook to write a public apology letter over the numerous Apple Maps shortcomings.

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A data advocacy group is pushing for regulation in the United Kingdom that would require companies like Apple, Google, and Uber to share their respective mapping data. The report explains that “data monopolies” in the U.K. are preventing younger, smaller companies from innovation.

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Apple Maps detail now beats Google Maps in many respects, from things like building shapes to vegetation coverage. That’s the conclusion of Justin O’Beirne, who used to work for Apple’s maps division and has now put together an exhaustive comparison …

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Up until now, Apple has used simple white vans to handle its mapping efforts, using a similar camera setup to what we saw all the way back in 2015. After announcing an effort to rebuild the service from the ground up, new Apple Maps vehicles have been spotted in Los Angeles.

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Apple’s interest in augmented reality has become pretty clear over the last couple of years, and just this past week it acquired a startup focused on building lenses for AR glasses.

As if Apple’s growing AR ambitions weren’t already clear enough, diving into the company’s hiring trends reveals even more.

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