Apple Maps Thread - iOS 15

[MozMan68]

Those rounded corners of individual buildings that are actually square looks pretty bad and misleading, in particular when buildings are actually joined together. Why implement a change that 1) doesn’t look good, and 2) provides misleading information?

I can’t find what I wrote about this…maybe in the old thread…

Just my opinion…Apple defining a set look for all non-satellite views. Basically, you can see the actual building in satellite view, so why expend resources recreating that in non-satellite view?

It is also in line with what they are doing in SF and expanding elsewhere later. Hand create specific POi’s for a very defined Maps look while “unimportant” buildings get the generic rounded edge look.

At the same time, I would expect they have a separate team working hard on getting 3D satellite views available everywhere.

From a design perspective, it is very smart and consistent.

 

[MozMan68]

Oh...and I sleep better at night thinking there's some higher up on the Maps team at Apple HQ who reads this thread and was like, "Oh crap...dude, we totally forgot to turn 3D buildings back on!!" as he frantically starts making phone calls to someone in India to fix it...

 

[G1Ravage]

We need to recruit someone who lives in San Francisco to participate in this thread, so we can see the new map with navigation in action.

 

[TouchedByAl]

Thanks for all of the updates everyone. I’ve been a consistent Apple Maps user for the last 5 years and have for whatever reason become very interested in all of the changes made to maps over time. Also if it wasn’t for this forum I wouldn’t have found Justin O’Beirne’s blog.

 

[improvemaps]

Oh…it works for me over and over, but only as the first route selected after opening Maps. It should be there for every route selected IMHO.

Yes it sounds like a bug.

 

[MozMan68]

Bad news…doesn’t look like CarPlay has been updated…yet, hopefully.

iPhone is still showing 3D buildings at standard zoom levels. Below is a comparison of iPhone and CarPlay in generally the same area (I would take a pic on the phone and then plug in to get a pic of CarPlay)

 

[TimFL1]

Bad news…doesn’t look like CarPlay has been updated…yet, hopefully.

iPhone is still showing 3D buildings at standard zoom levels. Below is a comparison of iPhone and CarPlay in generally the same area (I would take a pic on the phone and then plug in to get a pic of CarPlay)

I thought they explicitly mention „coming to CarPlay in a software update later this year“?

 

[MozMan68]

I thought they explicitly mention „coming to CarPlay in a software update later this year“?

That's the updated detailed view like they have in San Francisco.

Yesterday we were discussing how 3D buildings were missing from Maps while routing. They returned this morning on the iPhone, but are still missing in CarPlay.

EDIT: And to clarify, 3D buildings are there, just not showing up at the standard routing zoom levels. Pressing + to zoom in either one or two levels brings them up.

 

[G1Ravage]

Bad news…doesn’t look like CarPlay has been updated…yet, hopefully.

iPhone is still showing 3D buildings at standard zoom levels. Below is a comparison of iPhone and CarPlay in generally the same area (I would take a pic on the phone and then plug in to get a pic of CarPlay)

While definitely unusual that the 3D buildings are not showing up on CarPlay while driving on local roads in 3D view, it's *not* unusual that the 3D buildings are showing up on the phone while zoomed out further. That's been the current behavior since iOS 13 dropped.

I haven't been able to confirm my theory yet, but I think it has something to do with how CarPlay resizes everything to best fit your car's screen. I think it's setting a default zoom level that for some reason is *just* outside of building range, whether intentional or not.

Back on iOS 12, CarPlay showed buildings on my car's 9.2 inch screen at the same times as my phone did. Starting with iOS 13, CarPlay was showing buildings less often than my phone. I'm hoping to get into a new car soon with a super-wide 14.5 inch screen. When I do, I'm going to see if the building behavior changes on CarPlay with a larger screen to show my area on.

 

[MozMan68]

Good points…I’m pretty sure they were there before though.

I’ve only used my phone for navigation in the last week just to try this kind of stuff out…always use CarPlay in the car. Almost exclusively the past two years.

Too bad I’m not as disciplined as Justin O’Beirne …I’d probably be recording every trip I ever took and saving them by date. Hah

 

[MozMan68]

I've added the Maps overview video from WWDC in the main post. Shows them "driving" through SF in Maps.

 

[TimFL1]

I've added the Maps overview video from WWDC in the main post. Shows them "driving" through SF in Maps.

What is your estimate on when the US is going to fully be Detail Level 3 (San Francisco iOS 15).
Anyone still remembers how long it took them to get to Detail Level 2?

It‘s so insane that they‘re already working on DL3 and I‘m still sitting here with the vanilla experience.

 

[gwhizkids]

What is your estimate on when the US is going to fully be Detail Level 3 (San Francisco iOS 15).
Anyone still remembers how long it took them to get to Detail Level 2?

It‘s so insane that they‘re already working on DL3 and I‘m still sitting here with the vanilla experience.

I’m just waiting for LookAround to be rolled out to more than just the large cities. I’d rather have them put the effort into that than the “prettified” map views. LookAround adds real value. The nicely rendered cities is more of a “look what we can do” moment.

 

[tomtad]

Those rounded corners of individual buildings that are actually square looks pretty bad and misleading, in particular when buildings are actually joined together. Why implement a change that 1) doesn’t look good, and 2) provides misleading information?

I'm pretty sure this a bug or at least isn't fully finished, there are quite a few rough edges with the new maps that clearly need more work. The rounded corners are so extreme it makes many buildings look completely different from what they actually are representing which is not ideal for a map.

I think what we'll see are the properties tweaked through the betas so the rounded corners are more subtle, adding some smoothness in 3D view without detracting from usability.

 

[G1Ravage]

In the new San Francisco map, the colors of buildings match their facade.

Justin also reveals that while *not* navigating, 3D buildings appear one zoom level earlier when zooming in from afar. So that's an improvement right there.

Also, as I know the UK was being discussed earlier in the thread, Justin discovered that if you switch from the "Explore" layer to the "Driving" layer, the color-coded UK highways return, with blue for the Motorways, etc.

 

[MozMan68]

In the new San Francisco map, the colors of buildings match their facade.

Justin also reveals that while *not* navigating, 3D buildings appear one zoom level earlier when zooming in from afar. So that's an improvement right there.

Also, as I know the UK was being discussed earlier in the thread, Justin discovered that if you switch from the "Explore" layer to the "Driving" layer, the color-coded UK highways return, with blue for the Motorways, etc.

Yes and no…they will turn blue, but only at a very distant zoom level…zooming in to a usable level or one that you would see while routing, it is definitely back to grey everywhere.

See my video below

https://imgur.com/a/odjlqCE

 

[MozMan68]

I'm pretty sure this a bug or at least isn't fully finished, there are quite a few rough edges with the new maps that clearly need more work. The rounded corners are so extreme it makes many buildings look completely different from what they actually are representing which is not ideal for a map.

I think what we'll see are the properties tweaked through the betas so the rounded corners are more subtle, adding some smoothness in 3D view without detracting from usability.

I disagree…rounded buildings are here to stay.

 

[G1Ravage]

Yes and no…they will turn blue, but only at a very distant zoom level…zooming in to a usable level or one that you would see while routing, it is definitely back to grey everywhere.

See my video below

https://imgur.com/a/odjlqCE

Kinda makes sense to me. Once the new super details make it to the UK, zooming in far enough will reveal all of the advanced lane data. Having roads appear unrealistically blue or green would make the road markings illegible anyway.

 

[MozMan68]

I noted earlier that incident reporting while routing has moved to the pull up menu in CarPlay and is no longer the symbol on the screen…that is still true.

But…the incident reporting icon IS available on the main screen when NOT in an active route so you can still report them even if you just have Maps open.

Nice option to have!

 

[MozMan68]

Posted in another thread…bringing up a city now shows “Atlas” type data at the top of the guide.

 

[TimFL1]

Posted in another thread…bringing up a city now shows “Atlas” type data at the top of the guide.

Is that only for newer maps or available everywhere?

 

[MozMan68]

Is that only for newer maps or available everywhere?

New Maps / iOS 15 only…didn’t come up on my iPad.


Also, as noted on Reddit, searching for a POI in one area on Maps now “re-searches” as you move around the map or change zoom levels.

Google Maps doesn’t even do that.

I had varying success as some POI’s will not come up under different zoom levels, but that may have been me being too impatient as I moved around the map.

To me, that’s a huge option when planning out places to stop along a specific road/route or looking in different parts of a larger city.

 

[TimFL1]

New Maps / iOS 15 only…didn’t come up on my iPad.


Also, as noted on Reddit, searching for a POI in one area on Maps now “re-searches” as you move around the map or change zoom levels.

Google Maps doesn’t even do that.

I had varying success as some POI’s will not come up under different zoom levels, but that may have been me being too impatient as I moved around the map.

To me, that’s a huge option when planning out places to stop along a specific road/route or looking in different parts of a larger city.

No, I mean does it only work for regions with the new detailed maps or also in the v1 / old ones. Seems to me like this should also work for old maps cause it seems to be meta data they can pull.

 

[gwhizkids]

No, I mean does it only work for regions with the new detailed maps or also in the v1 / old ones. Seems to me like this should also work for old maps cause it seems to be meta data they can pull.

It’s kind of hard to tell now in Maps where is old and where is new. I know you’re in Germany and it does provide this same data for Berlin and Cologne. It also does so for Warsaw and Vienna (not Germany, of course). So, yes, it does seem not to matter (assuming that at least one of those cities is not yet in “new Maps” territory).

 

[MozMan68]

Well…I have “new” Maps on my iPad and “new new” Maps on my iPhone (iOS 15) and it only works on my iPhone, so would say at a minimum, it is iOS 15 based.