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iOS 9's Upcoming Transit Addition to Maps May Be Limited in Scope at Launch

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Apple has been working on adding mass transit routing information to its Maps application for several years, and while the feature appears to be ready to debut as part of iOS 9, it could be limited in scope at launch. The transit service may initially be available only in a small number of cities across the United States, Canada, Europe, and China when iOS 9 is released to the public, according to sources that spoke to 9to5Mac.

San Francisco and New York are said to be two of the locations in the United States where transit directions will be available. Both major cities are known for their public transportation options. In Canada, Toronto will likely gain transit routing options in the Maps app, as will London, Paris, and Berlin in Europe. Cities in China will also be included in the initial launch.

Apple is planning to expand access to transit information to additional cities following the fall launch of iOS 9, and cities that the company is hoping to add support for in the near future include Boston, Massachusetts and Tokyo, Japan, among others. Apple will likely work quickly to expand the feature even further across the rest of 2015 and into 2016.

Mass transit routing options have been missing from Maps since 2012, when Apple's native mapping system first replaced Google Maps in iOS 6. Transit directions were initially expected as part of iOS 8, and hints of transit options were indeed found in iOS 8 documentation, but organizational issues and staff shortages allegedly delayed the feature's release.

Apple's acquired many mapping-related companies since it introduced its Maps app, including transit apps HopStop and Embark, and in recent years, the company has also been expanding its in-house routing team as it furthers its work on the transit feature.

iOS 9, with the new Maps transit feature, is expected to be introduced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 8.

Article Link: iOS 9's Upcoming Transit Addition to Maps May Be Limited in Scope at Launch
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2015/05/26/apple-maps-transit-directions-limited/
luckydcxx

luckydcxx

macrumors 65816
Jun 13, 2013
1,158
419
why is everything Apple does ... "not ready" or "delayed" or "production problems" or "supply constraints"

this is software ... they aren't building a time machine. Hire more software engineers!
 
N

newagemac

macrumors 68020
Mar 31, 2010
2,091
23
I like the current solution in Apple Maps where you have a choice. For example, Google Maps forces you to use their transit directions which is far less accurate to the local solution provided by our city.

Apple Maps give you the choice of Google Maps, the local transit offering, and many others available. Once you download a solution from the app store, it integrates nicely with Apple Maps for transit directions.

I prefer the Apple way of offering choice over Google Maps forcing you to use their inferior transit solution but interested to see what they come up with.
 
sampaul

sampaul

macrumors member
Aug 22, 2012
81
191
Philadelphia
So you're telling me that Apple, which is worth $700 billion, with probably billions in cash reserves, cannot get transit into their maps for the entire world? I mean why just selected cities? I mean buy a company whose apps are already doing transit mapping and implement them into Apple Maps. How hard can that be? They could have bought a few mapping companies with the amount of money they spent on Beats.
 
5

576316

macrumors 601
May 19, 2011
4,056
2,556
Totally sick of Apple releasing new software features which are only available in the US and/or very select areas. They're a huge international brand, they just shouldn't release these features until they can do a much wider launch. Still no sign of Apple Pay in Europe or anywhere else. Don't get me started on iTunes Radio!
 
dannyyankou

dannyyankou

macrumors G5
Mar 2, 2012
13,000
27,984
Westchester, NY
I hope northern suburbs of NYC get it. I'm somewhat connected to their transit system. If not, I'll just continue using the Transit app and Google Maps.
 
clukas

clukas

macrumors 6502a
May 3, 2010
990
401
This is slowly getting quite annoying. Here in the UK we pay a premium for our apple products compared to US and some EU prices, and we don't always get all the features we pay for?
 
seatton

seatton

macrumors 6502a
Nov 7, 2013
789
1,219
Seattle, WA
JarScott said:
Totally sick of Apple releasing new software features which are only available in the US and/or very select areas. They're a huge international brand, they just shouldn't release these features until they can do a much wider launch. Still no sign of Apple Pay in Europe or anywhere else. Don't get me started on iTunes Radio!
Click to expand...

I do not care for iTunes Radio. I have used it maybe three times since it was launched. I think Pandora is better.
 
M

macintologist

macrumors 6502a
May 3, 2004
637
878
They are years behind Google transit. I relied heavily on Google Maps when I was in Tokyo, not Apple Maps, because of the superior public transit directions.
 
H

HenryDJP

Suspended
Nov 25, 2012
5,084
843
United States
luckydcxx said:
why is everything Apple does ... "not ready" or "delayed" or "production problems" or "supply constraints"
Click to expand...

Maybe because you only focus on Apple and it appears that way. Happens with many companies often. Take a stroll to CES for once and you'll see how many big companies promote products that are "Not ready"
 
K

KALLT

macrumors 603
Sep 23, 2008
5,361
3,378
newagemac said:
I like the current solution in Apple Maps where you have a choice. For example, Google Maps forces you to use their transit directions which is far less accurate to the local solution provided by our city.

Apple Maps give you the choice of Google Maps, the local transit offering, and many others available. Once you download a solution from the app store, it integrates nicely with Apple Maps for transit directions.

I prefer the Apple way of offering choice over Google Maps forcing you to use their inferior transit solution but interested to see what they come up with.
Click to expand...

What do you mean with ‘it integrates’? It’s just the discovery feature of the App Store tied into Maps. Apple will use your location to give you relevant travel apps which you may want to use instead. Google can’t really do that, since it doesn’t control the App Store and also because it provides, in my case pretty accurate, public transport data itself.
 
seatton

seatton

macrumors 6502a
Nov 7, 2013
789
1,219
Seattle, WA
If this is true, that's too bad. Seattle is a big city (was the fastest growing city in the US last year). I guess I will have to depend on Amazon or Microsoft mass public transportation app then :(
 
R

rekhyt

macrumors 65816
Jun 20, 2008
1,127
78
Part of the old MR guard.
sampaul said:
So you're telling me that Apple, which is worth $700 billion, with probably billions in cash reserves, cannot get transit into their maps for the entire world? I mean why just selected cities? I mean buy a company whose apps are already doing transit mapping and implement them into Apple Maps. How hard can that be? They could have bought a few mapping companies with the amount of money they spent on Beats.
Click to expand...

Quality over quantity.

Perfection takes time.
 
5

576316

macrumors 601
May 19, 2011
4,056
2,556
HenryDJP said:
Maybe because you only focus on Apple and it appears that way. Happens with many companies often. Take a stroll to CES for once and you'll see how many big companies promote products that are "Not ready"
Click to expand...

They're the world's most valuable company and largest technology company, sitting on billions in cash and charging an enormous premium for their products. These issues mentioned should not exist. Hire more workers, software engineers, pay the right people to get the right deals in place quickly. There's really not excuse, I don't think. It's getting more and more annoying and making them look worse and worse.

----------
rekhyt said:
Quality over quantity.

Perfection takes time.
Click to expand...

I could have believed that in the Steve Jobs days. But is what Apple produces now really that close to perfection?
 
Bigsk8r

Bigsk8r

macrumors 6502
Nov 28, 2011
342
592
Austin, Texas
JarScott said:
Totally sick of Apple releasing new software features which are only available in the US and/or very select areas...
Click to expand...

Totally sick of people from other countries ranting about this when the problem - as often as not - is some licensing issue, a tariff issue, or a local law or regulation within their own country that is the sticking point and not the US company itself.

:rolleyes:
 
S

subjonas

macrumors 603
Feb 10, 2014
5,539
5,865
JarScott said:
Totally sick of Apple releasing new software features which are only available in the US and/or very select areas. They're a huge international brand, they just shouldn't release these features until they can do a much wider launch. Still no sign of Apple Pay in Europe or anywhere else. Don't get me started on iTunes Radio!
Click to expand...

So if you can't have it, you want no one to have it? :)
 
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