Tag: Apple Maps

Apple Maps Adds Indigenous Lands and Place Names to Australia and New Zealand

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Apple announced last week that Apple Maps will now display Indigenous lands, place names and other content in Australia and New Zealand.

Beginning today, Apple Maps now displays Indigenous lands in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. By gathering information from Indigenous advisors, cartographers, Traditional Owners, language holders, and community members, Apple Maps will show reserves and Indigenous Protected Areas, Indigenous place names, Traditional Country, and dual-language labels. Indigenous lands place cards feature information about the local area and Traditional Owners, and can be curated to allow communities to add their own photos, destinations on their land, and text in their own language. Representation of Indigenous lands in Apple Maps provides users with a more comprehensive experience while also recognising the stories and significance behind them.

More at the Guardian. This follows Apple’s move to show Indigenous lands in Canada and the U.S. in 2023. [Lat × Long]

Online Maps Updates, Late March 2025 Edition

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

An updated disclosure on Apple’s website spotted by 9to5Mac says that imagery collected in support of the Look Around feature of Apple Maps (Apple’s Street View equivalent) will also be used to train Apple’s generative AI. Meanwhile, a recent Apple Maps glitch displayed baggage claims at ridiculously high zooms, and a Google Maps glitch deleted Timeline data for some users.

Apple Maps Surveyor

Published on by Jonathan Crowe
A screenshot of Maps Surveyor from the Apple App Store
Maps Surveyor screenshot. Apple App Store.

Last week Apple launched Maps Surveyor, a mapping app with a specific purpose, MacRumors reports. “The app is not public facing and appears to be for use with companies that Apple partners with to assign mapping tasks. […] Strings in Apple’s Surveyor app found by MacRumors suggest that once assigned a mapping task by the Premise app, Premise users will be instructed to attach an iPhone to a mount, rotate the iPhone‌ to landscape orientation, and capture images along a route while driving using the Surveyor app.” In other words, it’s the user end of a crowdsourcing pipeline that funnels local data to Apple Maps via a third party “task marketplace.” Not something most of us would ever use.

Apple Exploring Advertising in Maps

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

There’s talk of ads coming to Apple Maps—at least, Apple is said to be exploring the possibility—which, online consternation notwithstanding, is something Google has had forever—when you get right down to it, Google Maps was a way to provide location based search results, and search results were always monetized with ads. Apple started out using its services as loss leaders for its pricey hardware products; now those services are expected to make money themselves.

A ‘Gulf of America’ Roundup

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Two long reads on Apple, Google and the Gulf of America nonsense. Miguel García looks the history of places with multiple names, and how Google Maps in particular has handled them, using the Matterhorn (Mont Cervin, Monte Cervino) as an uncontentious example. John Gruber, whose Daring Fireball blog has covered the Apple side of the tech world for more than two decades, has a bracing, no-punches-pulled take that covers the utter lunacy of the name change, Google’s and Apple’s history of obeisance to autocratic regimes and the excessive compliance involved in showing “Gulf of America (Gulf of Mexico)” to the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, even Fox News and Newsmax are among the 40 news organizations who’ve signed on to a White House Correspondents Association letter protesting the White House’s blacklisting of the Associated Press for refusing to comply with the “Gulf of America” edict.

Previously: Naming the Gulf; Google Maps to Use ‘Gulf of America’–Others Not So Much; More Reactions to ‘Gulf of America’; Google and the Gulf; ‘Gulf of America’: Apple Conforms, AP Punished for Not Doing So; ‘Gulf of America’ Isn’t Going Over Well; Is ‘Gulf of Mexico’ Worth Fighting For?; ‘Gulf of America’: Compliance and Resistance.

‘Gulf of America’: Compliance and Resistance

Published on by Jonathan Crowe
A screenshot from Apple Maps, showing how the Gulf of Mexico is labelled as Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America).
Apple Maps (screenshot)

Compliance

While it was reported that Apple would comply with the “Gulf of America” renaming, I wasn’t sure what Apple would do outside the U.S.; now it appears that it will follow Google’s lead and show both names. Above is what I see in Canada; I wonder what Apple is showing Mexican users.

Meanwhile, Axios, citing its mainly U.S. audience, is adopting “Gulf of America” (HuffPost, The Hill, The Wrap) but had this to say about the White House blacklisting the Associated Press: “At the same time, the government should never dictate how any news organization makes editorial decisions. The AP and all news organizations should be free to report as they see fit. This is a bedrock of a free press and durable democracy.”

Resistance

The name change is broadly unpopular and people are finding ways to resist it. If “Gulf of America” becomes a way to signal compliance with the regime, it looks like “Gulf of Mexico,” even on a t-shirt (which I’ve seen already), will signal noncompliance.

Bryce Bostwick has released a Chrome extension that restores “Gulf of Mexico” to Google Maps. As he says, “There are a lot of scary executive orders being issued right now. This is not one of the most important ones. But it might be the easiest to defy.” This apparently took some reverse engineering, as he explains in a 24-minute video.

MapQuest—remember MapQuest?—has not as yet complied with the Trump executive order; in fact, they’ve decided to have some fun with it, with a tongue-in-cheek tool that allows you to rename the Gulf yourself.

A user-generated map of the Gulf of Mexico from Mapquest’s gulfof.mapquest.com tool, labelling the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of Compliance in Advance.
MapQuest (gulfof.mapquest.com)

Previously: Naming the Gulf; Google Maps to Use ‘Gulf of America’–Others Not So Much; More Reactions to ‘Gulf of America’; Google and the Gulf; ‘Gulf of America’: Apple Conforms, AP Punished for Not Doing So; ‘Gulf of America’ Isn’t Going Over Well; Is ‘Gulf of Mexico’ Worth Fighting For?

‘Gulf of America’: Apple Conforms, AP Punished for Not Doing So

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Google isn’t alone: Apple is also changing Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America to its maps. According to Bloomberg, the change is happening today for U.S. users and rolling out globally later, which if true is a lot more compliance than Google is showing. AppleInsider, TechCrunch, The Verge.

Apple and Google are changing their maps despite being legally required to do so, at least according to a report from the Congressional Research service (via Engadget):

BGN decisions are not required to be adopted for nonfederal domestic publications. For decades, the Alaska State government has used “Denali” in place of “Mount McKinley” on state publications and maps. The E.O. would not mandate changes to the usage of “Denali” by the State of Alaska. Similarly, the E.O. would not require private company applications, such as Google Maps and Apple Maps, to adopt the changed names. Nonfederal entities may choose to adopt BGN naming conventions moving forward.

That they’re doing so can be explained easily enough: fear of retaliation. Something the Associated Press discovered today: they announced last month that they’d continue using “Gulf of Mexico,” citing their global role and reach. From an AP statement today:

Today we were informed by the White House that if AP did not align its editorial standards with President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, AP would be barred from accessing an event in the Oval Office. This afternoon AP’s reporter was blocked from attending an executive order signing.

It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism. Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.

As I wrote when this first went down: “‘Gulf of America’ is basically a loyalty test—a MAGA shibboleth.” The point is seeing who obeys—and who doesn’t.

Previously: Naming the Gulf; Google Maps to Use ‘Gulf of America’–Others Not So Much; More Reactions to ‘Gulf of America’; Google and the Gulf.

More Reactions to ‘Gulf of America’

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Yesterday’s post looked mainly at Google’s response to Trump’s renaming of Denali and the Gulf of Mexico. Today some news about Apple and OpenStreetMap. On Daring Fireball, John Gruber points to OpenStreetMap forum discussions about the change, which reveals some nuances and complications despite the utter lunacy of the situation. And AppleInsider reports a small change in Apple Maps that may or may not be a placeholder:

If users navigate to the Gulf of Mexico, it still shows the 400-year-old name plain as day.

However, if a user searches “Gulf of America,” the text over the Gulf changes to reflect the search result, but the information sheet shows data and photos about the Gulf of Mexico. This seems to be a working solution that could stick, but there isn’t any word from Apple if that is the plan.

Meanwhile, according to CNN, Mexico’s response to the name change ranges somewhere between dismissive and mocking. The Conversation offers a primer on what goes into changing a U.S. place name.

On the lighter side, Martijn van Exel has created a Gulf of Mexico Watcher that checks whether it’s still being called that. More bitter in tone are the MAGA plugin and the New World Order Google Map, which offer a more … interactive response.

Previously: Naming the Gulf; Google Maps to Use ‘Gulf of America’–Others Not So Much.

Online Maps Roundup: August 2024

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Apple Maps has launched real-time transit information for Tokyo. Meanwhile, MacRumors takes a look at what’s coming to Apple Maps in iOS 18, with an additional look at the upcoming “search here” function. Google and Waze updates announced at the end of the last month: Google Maps gets easier incident reporting and destination guidance (the building you’re heading to is highlighted on the map); Waze upgrades include new camera alerts, event-based (e.g. concerts and sporting events) traffic notification and reporting, and locked-screen navigation. Also, the Google Maps app now has a simplified tab bar. And they’ve changed the pin design too. What can I say: updates are a little less earth-shattering than they used to be.

Apple Maps on the Web

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Apple announced yesterday that Apple Maps is now available on the web as a public beta. Prior to this it was mostly available through its iOS, iPad and Mac apps, except that developers have been able to embed Apple’s maps on their websites through the MapKit JS API for several years now. Those embedded maps can now point to the web version, “so their users can get driving directions, see detailed place information, and more.” Limited browser and language support for the time being.

‘Map-Splaining’

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Modern online maps have so much data under the hood, and provide an overabundance of detail, that they can’t help but bombard the user, The Atlantic’s Ian Bogost argues, coining a term for their “sheer exhaustiveness”: map-splaining. It’s a challenge to take all that data and make directions comprehensible.

The maps know that one road is five lanes wide and the other six; both have medians. They understand that right turns between the streets can be accomplished via dedicated merge lanes that skip the red light. They appreciate that two lanes allow left turns between each of these streets, facilitated by a left-turn-arrow traffic signal. Having all this information helps the maps give their step-by-step instructions: Take the first turn lane from northbound 28th Street, then a quick right into the parking lot for Flatiron Coffee. That level of precision may be convenient for some drivers, but it comes at the price of breaking down the built environment into lots of extra segments and transitions that may trigger the display of useless routing information. Perhaps the software should just be telling you to “go past the light and make a left.”

Online Maps Roundup: April 2024

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Custom route creation and topographic maps are rumored to be coming to Apple Maps in the next iOS release, iOS 18. Google Maps has had custom routes since approximately forever; on Apple Maps we’ve had to choose between Apple’s generated routes without being able to edit them.

Google Maps announced updates focusing on EVs (EV charger search, nearby chargers in the in-car map, suggested charging stops, forecast energy consumption) and sustainability (lower-carbon travel options rolling out in 15 cities, estimated flight emissions). Also, Street View came to Kazakhstan last month. Meanwhile, Ben Schoon at 9to5Google says that while Google Maps on Android Auto is “a pretty solid experience,” it’s a different matter when you use Google Maps via Apple CarPlay, an experience he calls “a bit of a dumpster fire.”

Google-owned Waze announced updates last month that include roundabout assistance and notifications for the presence of emergency vehicles, speed limit changes, and things like sharp curves, speed bumps and toll booths [TechCrunch].

Apple Maps Lists Australian Restaurant as ‘Permanently Closed’—It Isn’t

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

ABC News (Australia) reports on how Apple Maps erroneously listed a Queensland restaurant as permanently closed, costing it thousands of dollars in lost business. What’s noteworthy is the difficulty the restaurant owner had in correcting the error. Apple accepts error reports via its browser and apps, and the owner is an Android and Windows user, but it seems to be more than that: a 9to5Mac commenter found it easier to correct map errors via their personal Apple ID than as a small business owner, whereas Google Maps makes it easier for businesses. The ABC News report goes on to note that this is not an isolated incident. [9to5Mac/AppleInsider]

Apple Maps Roundup for July 2023

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Downloadable maps are coming to Apple Maps in iOS 17 this fall. Ars Technica looks at how they’ll work, and how they’ll compare to Google Maps’ offline maps (at the moment—which to be sure is with the iOS 17 public beta—Apple’s offline maps take up much more space but also offer more detail).

James Killick considers Apple’s forthcoming Vision Pro headset and wonders whether something might not be afoot in the mapping space. “The real kicker for geospatial is its ability to immerse you in a truly 3D experience. […] So given a truly immersive 3D experience is possible, think of the wonders it will do for maps and mapping in general.”

After expanding its new maps to central Europe—Austria, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia—in April, Apple brought detailed city maps to Paris, cycling directions to the whole of France, and its new maps to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Slovakia in June. As usual, Justin O’Beirne has all the details at the above links.