Apple Maps Now Available on the Web

[lartola]

I see that Apple Maps have got more points of interest added in and roads and businesses are more up to date. But the same is also that more and more noise and fakes have popped up.

That depends on where you use Apple Maps. Use it for USA, Canada, UK or the EU and it’s great. Use it for other regions and you’ll start missing some features. Latin America is where Apple Maps is worse than anywhere else except, maybe, Africa. In Latin America, Apple Maps completely lacks the newer more detailed maps, it lacks transit and cycling directions in most cities, completely lacks look around and indoor maps of malls and airports, has 3D and flyover limited to a very few cities, and driving directions aren’t always right. Furthermore, businesses and points of interest are completely outdated. Terrible experience, all that while Google Maps does offer all those features for Latin America and has done so for years.

 

[MacFan782040]

What does "scroll" mean in this context? When I spin the scroll wheel on my mouse, Maps (the Mac desktop version) zooms in/out, and always has. Do you mean something else?

Not for me. On the Mac app, scrolling using my Magic Mouse, or using 2 fingers on my MacBook trackpad only moves the map around. It does not zoom in the same way Google maps does. This was my biggest issue with it honestly.

 

[JulianL]

I really wanted to like this. Having Apple Maps accessible on my Windows PC would be one less barrier to using it as my main mapping app on my iPhone & getting the tightest possible integration with my Apple Watch for directions but I just tried it and directions are either for walking or by car - no option for public transport.

It is only beta I suppose so maybe the other options that are in the app (public transport, cycling) will get implemented on the browser version but as it is now that's a total show-stopper for me. Maybe it's not such a big deal for much of the more rural USA but I would imagine that many US big-city residents (e.g. NYC) would be as frustrated as many Europeans if the browser version doesn't include public transport directions when it gets out of beta.

 

[timeislove]

Look Around has NO COVERAGE AT ALL outside the US, UK, Canada, western European countries and maybe a few other countries. It isn’t available in most of the world. Google’s street view is available nearly worldwide even though it may not be as good. For example, I live in Mexico (which shares a 2000 mi border with the US, though americans often treat it the same as Tuvalu in the middle of the pacific) and Apple’s look around still isn’t available here, while Google’s street view has been available here for at least a decade.

not really, look around did cover a nos of major regions in asia, incl. japan, hk, singapore, taiwan, etc.

 

[lartola]

not really, look around did cover a nos of major regions in asia, incl. japan, hk, singapore, taiwan, etc.

The ‘few other countries’ I mentioned. Look Around is still not even close to google’s street view in terms of international availability.

 

[timeislove]

The ‘few other countries’ I mentioned. Look Around is still not even close to google’s street view in terms of international availability.

As I also see you mentioning “No coverage at all”…

The factors of how apple scheduled the rolling out of look around still a mystery, but it looks like hinging on population density. Japan is one of the earliest to get look around covered among Asia cities.


The photo quality of look around is superior than that of street view, probably thanks to better image capturing equipment for Apple launched look around much later than Google.

 

[lartola]

As I also see you mentioning “No coverage at all”…

I said “look around has no coverage at all outside the US, Canada, Uk, Western Europe and a few other countries”. The latter part, a few other countries, would include those parts of Asia where look around is indeed available such as China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan), Japan or Singapore. It’s a far cry from the availability of Google’s street view, which is nearly worldwide, whereas look around excludes most of southern Asia and the middle east, all of Africa, and All of America outside the US and Canada. That means about 3/4 of the world has google’s street view but not apple’s look around. Pretty bad job of Apple’s. Am I clear now?

 

[timeislove]

That depends on where you use Apple Maps. Use it for USA, Canada, UK or the EU and it’s great. Use it for other regions and you’ll start missing some features. Latin America is where Apple Maps is worse than anywhere else except, maybe, Africa. In Latin America, Apple Maps completely lacks the newer more detailed maps, it lacks transit and cycling directions in most cities, completely lacks look around and indoor maps of malls and airports, has 3D and flyover limited to a very few cities, and driving directions aren’t always right. Furthermore, businesses and points of interest are completely outdated. Terrible experience, all that while Google Maps does offer all those features for Latin America and has done so for years.

that's true. apple map is lagging far behind google map for POI support.

that's why apple making map openly available on web is a good move. i would anticipate they would launch crowdsourcing which would surely help the improvement in POI.

 

[lartola]

that's true. apple map is lagging far behind google map for POI support.

that's why apple making map openly available on web is a good move. i would anticipate they would launch crowdsourcing which would surely help the improvement in POI.

And also in support for several other features such as transit and cycling directions, 3D and flyover, indoor maps of malls and airports or the aforementioned look around.

 

[decx]

The beta is now working on Firefox.

 

[bruno7]

Can somebody please explain to me how to manually choose two different points on the map? Both start and end?

I need to check for example how long it is going to take me to walk from one point to another - how do I do this? I couldn't find a way.

And if it really is as it is, then this must be the dumbest map app ever.

Thanks for any help.

 

[polyphenol]

Can somebody please explain to me how to manually choose two different points on the map? Both start and end?

I need to check for example how long it is going to take me to walk from one point to another - how do I do this? I couldn't find a way.

And if it really is as it is, then this must be the dumbest map app ever.

Thanks for any help.

I used Marked Location - twice.

I don't think it is exactly clear, nor would it be my choice to use that approach, but it works.