Apple has launched a fresh update of its Maps app for The Big Apple that promises to compete with Google Maps in both features and detail.
The update, part of the Apple Maps overhaul in the recently released iOS 13, which is rolling out in phases, will likely reach users at different times, but they’ll know it when they see it.
Apple Maps, which until now had relied on third-party sources, deployed its own fleet of hundreds of custom vehicles and aircraft, armed with imaging and LIDAR data collection apparatus, to construct a completely new map designed to present better details of streets, pedestrian data, accurate addresses, and extensive coverage resulting in more realistic views of roads, buildings, parks, marinas, and beaches. The app also includes indoor maps for large venues like malls and airports.
Today’s New York City rollout for all five boroughs includes the new Look Around feature that offers high-resolution, 3D images that can pan 360 degrees from any spot and move up and down streets — like Google Street View. It also incorporates Siri Natural Language Guidance for more comprehensible directions. For example, instead of saying “in 1,000 feet turn left,” Siri says “turn left at the next traffic light.”
A new Flyover feature, available today for 350 major metropolitan areas, offers photo-realistic, immersive 3D views so that you can move your device around you in order to examine a location from various perspectives.
New York City is not the first to see Maps upgrades come online — Apple started with its native California, followed by Hawaii and parts of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. It’s now moving up and down the Northeast corridor to cover New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maryland, Delaware, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Washington DC, and parts of Virginia and West Virginia. The rest of the continental U.S. doesn’t have long to wait. Apple says its Maps updates will cover the rest of country by the end of the year, and other locations next year.
Apple Maps is available on all Apple devices including iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and CarPlay-equipped vehicles.
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