After years of ridicule and scorn, Apple is finally ready to unveil a new version of its Maps app that will completely rebalance the playing field.
According to an exclusive report from TechCrunch, the overhauled mapping data will be introduced first for people enrolled in the iOS 12 beta, and will only be available in the Bay Area for now. It will cover all of Northern California by this fall, and will of course eventually roll out to all versions of iOS.
In terms of areas outside of Northern California, the rest of the United States will receive Apple’s new maps “section by section” over the next year, according to Apple’s head of services Eddy Cue.
With this dramatic change, Apple will drop all of its current third-party mapping partners, such as Tom Tom, OpenStreetMap, and Waze. These mapping partners have, up until now, made up most of Apple’s maps since its 2012 launch.
Instead of these partners, Apple will rely on two main sources of data for its new Maps product: vans fitted with sensor arrays that have been mapping the United States since 2015, and millions of iPhones. The TechCrunch report explains that Apple will gather chunks of anonymized data every time a user opens the Maps app. This will allow the company to access massive troves of traffic and road data. For example, Apple will be able to access real-time traffic statistics, as thousands of iPhones may be slowed to a crawl on a particularly nasty bit of LA traffic.
Apple is also able to use this data to make more visually detailed maps. In the picture above, you can see more green for woods and park areas, more detailed waterways, and more visual pop to help differentiate streets.
Even though this new effort looks quite encouraging, it is hard to imagine Apple ever matching or surpassing Google’s legendary mapping product, Google Maps. Nevertheless, users of Apple Maps will undoubtedly appreciate this significant effort.
