Apple Maps Adds Amtrak Routes in Northeastern U.S. and Transit Directions for Boston

[v04bvs]

Too bad that almost any competitor map is better than Apple Maps in my city (Astana). At least it's not a terra incognita anymore and few streets appeared here and there.

There are wonderful OpenStreet Maps available with very detailed information and free to use. I wonder why Apple does not use them.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Several other definitions add Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. There are a few that extend even further by adding Virginia and West Virginia.

You definitely aren't in the North anymore when you reach Virginia. Whether to say the last Northern state is Pennsylvania or New York is debatable - but Virginia is definitely in the South.

 

[Thunderhawks]

Are walking directions now supported between Chicago and New York?

I prefer to rely on my own two feet.

You know it takes longer if you have a SAMSUNG chip in your iPhone 6S

 

[jent]

I hope the add the Vermonter trains on Amtrak soon.

 

[Aluminum213]

Still many years behind google maps in accuracy and usefulness

 

[mrfoof82]

If I took public transport between my home and work each day, it'd take at least 1 hour 25 minutes for what is a 20-minute car journey, including a ten-minute walk at the end.

The United States is, unfortunately 40 times the area of the United Kingdom. Connecting everything isn't feasible unless we want a price tag approaching a trillion dollars, and the operating cost of trains connecting people in low density areas won't ever be matched by "reasonable" fares. If you want great public transit in the US, you have to live IN the city. You don't want to be on the fringes of public transit (source or destination). For example, while you DO have Red Line access in Quincy, it's usually at best on par with driving into the city because the frequency of the trains at the fringes is quite long (and it's still 20-25 minutes just to arrive at Downtown Crossing).

This is reality. Talk to people to who live outside NYC who will tell you of their hour plus on commuter rail (and same goes for commuter rail on the MBTA). You spend time to save money on housing. That's the tradeoff. Same for LA. SFBA. DC. Etc. Actually, people in Europe tell me the same thing.

That being said, I live IN Boston. If I were to commute to the office in Back Bay by foot/subway, it takes ~20 minutes including the walks. 25 minutes on a bad day. If I were to commute via car (which I own), it would take 40-45 minutes, and I'd have to pay $30 to park for the day (or $350/mo for the pass, compared to $70 for subway) -- I can back this up, because I did this a few times to demonstrate to people at the office that it wasn't faster nor cheaper for me to drive in.

 

[Boomchukalaka]

I recently used iMaps iOS9 Transit directions while in Toronto. I used it for Go Trains, and TTC subways and street cars, and it worked flawlessly. I was impressed.

 

[Popeye206]

It is kind of odd considering they bought Hopstop and Embark 2 years ago. Hopstop had directions for basically every US & Canada transit systems.

This is one area I don't get with Apple... sometimes things just seem to take too long. Just like the SIRI upgrade... my goodness, everyone seems to have a better voice assistant now and you'd think since Apple was one of the first, SIRI would be kicking everyone's butt. And don't get me wrong... I do use SIRI and like what I use her for, but it seems others are progressing faster. Anyway... just wondering.

 

[iCrizzo]

Stick to Google Maps. Beta testing is nice but getting to where I need to go is much more important!

 

[Tiger8]

Still many years behind google maps in accuracy and usefulness

Correct. Now Google maps even has yelp-like functionality too, alerting you that the place you are about to go to might be closed by the time you get there. It is incredible to say the least.

 

[CreatorCode]

Thank you for calling the mapped area Northeast. I've run into so many from this area that say they're from the Midwest, or even West. Nope, you are East, Northeast specifically. I lived in Minneapolis. That's Midwest. Ohio, Indiana, you ain't Midwest.
/rant

You...you do know that people on the Internet can actually look up the definitions of words like "midwest," right?

 

[avanpelt]

"Here, customers, we're going to incorporate Amtrak routes into our excellent mapping app. But we're not going to include all the routes...only the ones we think you actually care about."

Sincerely,
Apple

-----------

Translation: This is yet another half-assed project that's released to the public before it's fully baked. They can't even put Amtrak's national route map into Maps?!?

 

[citysnaps]

I use Apple Maps for everything as a default.

Same here. Haven't used google maps in a long time.

 

[2457282]

You definitely aren't in the North anymore when you reach Virginia. Whether to say the last Northern state is Pennsylvania or New York is debatable - but Virginia is definitely in the South.

Yes that was defined by the fish and wildlife service. I assume because of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

 

[Vanilla35]

Thank you for calling the mapped area Northeast. I've run into so many from this area that say they're from the Midwest, or even West. Nope, you are East, Northeast specifically. I lived in Minneapolis. That's Midwest. Ohio, Indiana, you ain't Midwest.
/rant

I've always known Ohio and Indiana as the midwest. Grew up in the DC area. The way I think of it, it's obviously not the east coast, and it's not the northeast either...so what else would it be? It's the midwest.

If you really wanna be more specific, you can just call anything west of Ohio "the heartland"

 

[bobenhaus]

Why is transit information so slow to be included in Apple Maps?

Yeah seems so 2007. Google Maps does it all.

 

[Alumeenium]

I lived in Minneapolis. That's Midwest. Ohio, Indiana, you ain't Midwest.
/rant

Ohio and Indiana are most certainly the MIDWEST / Flyover Country

the North East is Philly to Ottawa to Nova Scotia

Pittsburgh is just as Midwestern as Detroit and Chi-town

 

[Vanilla35]

Yeah seems so 2007. Google Maps does it all.

Once every 4-6 months I'll open up Apple maps to see how the transit route comes up compared to Google maps (what I use everyday) and see if Apple has caught up; but the route (specifically traffic estimation) is always less accurate, and sometimes a slower (longer) route is projected than what Google maps provides. This has been the case for most of the times I've done this over the last 2 years.

I would have stopped caring by now, but I would actually like to use apple's software if it would simply catch up. In the meantime though, Google maps has gotten better though

I just don't think Apple is quite as good at collecting data as Google

 

[dk001]

Not in the NE though I do fly there regularly and use the trains frequently.
Took a quick look and nope ...... not complete.
I'll stick to Google maps. It includes it all and even ties in my flights.
Seriously way beyond anything Apple currently offers. Not sure why they are lagging so far behind.

 

[happydude]

So, I was intrigued by your rant and decided to do some fact checking. The Census Bureau has defined the Northeast region as comprising nine states: the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont; and the Mid-Atlantic states of New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Several other definitions add Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. There are a few that extend even further by adding Virginia and West Virginia. The only place I saw that included Ohio, Indiana and Michigan in the Northeast was a the world botanists organization. Who's definition are you referencing to say that they are part of the northeast. As a reference point the Census Bureau does indeed include Ohio and Indiana in their definition of the Midwest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwestern_United_States#Definition

while we're defining areas based off personal opinion and associations, minnesota is the "north" not the "midwest."

 

[2457282]

while we're defining areas based off personal opinion and associations, minnesota is the "north" not the "midwest."

um, I quoted from the US census bureau - that's not personal opinion, unless a US Federal Agency can have a personal opinion.

 

[dk001]

um, I quoted from the US census bureau - that's not personal opinion, unless a US Federal Agency can have a personal opinion.

Having dealt with a number of these agencies I would say that they can and frequently have a personal interpretation which many would view as a personal opinion.

 

[retep42]

At least it is tough for a train to get lost.

You should tell that to the German Bundesbahn. They had a few infamous incidents in recent years, including intercity trains forgetting to stop at stations...

 

[hagar]

It is kind of odd considering they bought Hopstop and Embark 2 years ago. Hopstop had directions for basically every US & Canada transit systems.

True, but they have to manually type everything over into the Maps database, and they only hired two junior data analysts for the task.

 

[hagar]

Still, there's no comparison with the (free) competition:

- Waze: takes you everywhere, reroutes around traffic jams, warns about police control, weather conditions, objects on the road, ... It's just like having an extra set of eyes and I'm surprised not everybody is using it. (Tip: hide other wazers to avoid screen clutter). Apple should have bought Waze when it had the change. Even if it was just to tap into its resources.

- Citymapper: shows you route directions by car, bicycle and all kinds of public transport. Very convenient with lots of practical tips.