Overhauled Apple Maps comes to the Big Apple in latest attempt to catch up to Google Maps
Apple's attempt to render the pretty much ubiquitous Google Maps service obsolete back in 2012 will forever be remembered as one of the most embarrassing moments in the history of one of the world's most successful tech giants, but to its credit, the company stuck with the app all these years, ramping up its development and expansion of late.
No, Apple Maps is obviously still not as popular or as detailed as Google Maps or Waze, but a number of recent updates across many US and global regions have certainly boosted the coverage and convenience of the web mapping service that remains the default option for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch users.
Rebuilt "from the ground up" with proprietary data collected by Apple after driving for "more than 4 million miles", the platform's new underlying map is slated for a nationwide rollout by the end of the year, followed by an international expansion in several additional countries in 2020. Said long-awaited US rollout is finally reaching New York City today after reportedly going live in a bunch of other northeastern cities over the last few weeks or so.
The revamped app promises to provide "significantly improved and refined details" for everything from roads to beaches, marinas, parks, buildings, and airports. Speaking of airports, NYC is one of an increasing number of places where Apple Maps also supports indoor navigation for both the LaGuardia and JFK International Airport.
New York is naturally on the list of locations where Transit, Flyover, and Indoor Maps Malls information is available, so at least in theory, Big Apple residents should finally be able to rely on Apple to offer a comparable overall mapping and navigation experience to Google right out of the box. Of course, if that's still not the case, both Google Maps and Waze are just a few taps away.
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