Apple Maps Gains Indoor Maps at Over 20 Additional Shopping Malls and Airports Around the World

[MacRumors]

Apple Maps has added indoor maps at over 20 additional shopping malls and airports across the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Denmark.

Newly supported locations:

Lenox Square in the Atlanta, GA
Phipps Plaza in the Atlanta, GA
Perimeter Mall in Atlanta, GA
Cumberland Mall in Atlanta, GA
North Point Mall in Alpharetta, GA
Mall of Georgia in Buford, GA
The Shoppes at River Crossing in Macon, GA
Oglethorpe Mall in Savannah, GA
Peachtree Mall in Columbus, GA
Mall St. Matthews in Louisville, KY
Oxmoor Center in Louisville, KY
Towne Mall in Elizabethtown, KY
Florence Mall in Florence, KY
Greenwood Mall in Bowling Green, KY
Eaton Centre in Toronto, Canada
Anchorpoint in Singapore
Harbour City in Hong Kong
IFC Mall in Hong Kong
Pacific Place in Hong Kong
Times Square in Hong Kong
Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, AZ
Copenhagen Airport in Denmark

To view an indoor map, open the Apple Maps app on iOS 11 or later, search for a supported location, zoom in, and tap on "Look Inside."

Indoor maps at shopping malls make it easier to find the exact location of stores, restaurants, and restrooms on each floor, in addition to guest services, parking, escalators, stairs, and so forth. Or, swipe up on the place card to browse by category, such as clothes, shoes, accessories, beauty, food, and drinks.

Likewise, at airports, Apple Maps users can zoom in to view terminals, boarding gates, security checkpoints, airline check-in desks, baggage claim carousels, information kiosks, restrooms, stores, restaurants, parking, and more.

When the feature launched with iOS 11, indoor maps were only available in a handful of airports and shopping malls around the world, but Apple has been steadily adding locations over the past year.

The list includes airports and shopping malls in major cities across North America and Europe, including Baltimore, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, London, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, San Jose, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, and Washington, DC. The full list can be viewed on Apple.com.

Article Link: Apple Maps Gains Indoor Maps at Over 20 Additional Shopping Malls and Airports Around the World

 

[Scottsoapbox]

It's still surprising to me how slowly these are added (on all platforms). Does it take more than a day for one person to walk around a mall (or airport) and enter the data?

 

[max.ine]

I really like this feature. Super useful if you’re trying to find a certain store in an airport or mall, or if the design just sucks there. I was at Detroit’s airport for the first time a while back and I found it strangely difficult to navigate and this saved my butt.

 

[Kobayagi]

Maps for airports I kinda get, for when you're in a hurry, or want to plan ahead and don't miss your flight.

But at shopping malls, god forbid you actually talk to another human being and ask for directions to a certain store or try to figure out those extremely difficult direction boards that are so ubiquitous in shopping malls. /s

Seriously, people are being so dumbed down by their smartphone.

 

[mattopotamus]

Maps for airports I kinda get, for when you're in a hurry, or want to plan ahead and don't miss your flight.

But at shopping malls, god forbid you actually talk to another human being and ask for directions to a certain store or try to figure out those extremely difficult direction boards that are so ubiquitous in shopping malls. /s

Seriously, people are being so dumbed down by their smartphone.

Or you know, look at the directories that are every 30 feet.

 

[alien3dx]

Apple Maps has added indoor maps at over 20 additional shopping malls and airports across the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Denmark.

Newly supported locations:

Lenox Square in the Atlanta, GA
Phipps Plaza in the Atlanta, GA
Perimeter Mall in Atlanta, GA
Cumberland Mall in Atlanta, GA
North Point Mall in Alpharetta, GA
Mall of Georgia in Buford, GA
The Shoppes at River Crossing in Macon, GA
Oglethorpe Mall in Savannah, GA
Peachtree Mall in Columbus, GA
Mall St. Matthews in Louisville, KY
Oxmoor Center in Louisville, KY
Towne Mall in Elizabethtown, KY
Florence Mall in Florence, KY
Greenwood Mall in Bowling Green, KY
Eaton Centre in Toronto, Canada
Anchorpoint in Singapore
Harbour City in Hong Kong
IFC Mall in Hong Kong
Pacific Place in Hong Kong
Times Square in Hong Kong
Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, AZ
Copenhagen Airport in Denmark

To view an indoor map, open the Apple Maps app on iOS 11 or later, search for a supported location, zoom in, and tap on "Look Inside."

Indoor maps at shopping malls make it easier to find the exact location of stores, restaurants, and restrooms on each floor, in addition to guest services, parking, escalators, stairs, and so forth. Or, swipe up on the place card to browse by category, such as clothes, shoes, accessories, beauty, food, and drinks.

Likewise, at airports, Apple Maps users can zoom in to view terminals, boarding gates, security checkpoints, airline check-in desks, baggage claim carousels, information kiosks, restrooms, stores, restaurants, parking, and more.

When the feature launched with iOS 11, indoor maps were only available in a handful of airports and shopping malls around the world, but Apple has been steadily adding locations over the past year.

The list includes airports and shopping malls in major cities across North America and Europe, including Baltimore, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, London, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, San Jose, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, and Washington, DC. The full list can be viewed on Apple.com.

Article Link: Apple Maps Gains Indoor Maps at Over 20 Additional Shopping Malls and Airports Around the World

the most stupid idea but i dont know about other country. Most shop except core tenant mostly not survive in 6 month.

 

[dona83]

Interesting, West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Canada has indoor maps but it's not on Apple's official list.

 

[benroberts3]

It's still surprising to me how slowly these are added (on all platforms). Does it take more than a day for one person to walk around a mall (or airport) and enter the data?

I read an article once that talked about how Apple goes about mapping out a location. It's a team of 5-10 people with specialized surveying equipment who cover every customer-facing part of the airport. This includes airline ticket desks, shops, restaurants, baggage claim, bathrooms, etc. From there, all the data collected is aggregated, sorted, and interior maps are created. I am guessing it takes a few months to build out the maps and more than likely they send a ground truth engineering team back out to verify what the first team did.

I've used it a few times combined with the airport's iBeacon and indoor wifi systems; it is scary how accurate and exact the maps can be relative to your GPS pin.

 

[Sasparilla]

Nice to see Apple continuing to build this out.

 

[BuffaloTF]

I notice on the Eaton Centre that there's a 3D model over it now (edit in: while in 2D mode, it has this) to click on to expand it, like in Google Maps. But ONLY that and the Hudson's Bay building, everything else around it is flat as a pancake, even tho the city has the full 3D model in satellite.

 

[Big Ron]

Do I have to wait for an iOS update to get this added functionality?

 

[TheWatchfulOne]

But at shopping malls, god forbid you actually talk to another human being and ask for directions to a certain store or try to figure out those extremely difficult direction boards that are so ubiquitous in shopping malls. /s

Seriously, people are being so dumbed down by their smartphone.

What an arbitrary thing to say. It might be nice to look at the mall map in advance of arriving there so I can park as close as possible to the one store I want to visit. (Or park as far as possible so I can add to my exercise and move rings?)

And some people just like to look at maps for the sake of look at maps. So, the more to look at the better.

 

[cmmncw]

Transit direction were also turned on in the Philippines recently.

 

[QuarterSwede]

I’m surprised Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport isn’t on the list. It’s the busiest airport in the world and baggage claim is a mess to figure out. You’d think they’d want that mapped as a showcase of the feature.

 

[cube]

I’m surprised Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport isn’t on the list. It’s the busiest airport in the world and baggage claim is a mess to figure out. You’d think they’d want that mapped as a showcase of the feature.

Just look at how many are missing:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_busiest_airports_by_passenger_traffic

 

[Fousthvk]

How about bike routing! Feel like that’s more important then indoor venues. If a place is so big it’ll have a directory at every entrance!! Malls hospitals etc.

 

[MikeAnd]

Still waiting for SFO. I would complain, but honestly the new NorCal Apple maps are so great that I really can't get too upset about it. Plus I already know the airport well anyway.

 

[Gasu E.]

Maps for airports I kinda get, for when you're in a hurry, or want to plan ahead and don't miss your flight.

But at shopping malls, god forbid you actually talk to another human being and ask for directions to a certain store or try to figure out those extremely difficult direction boards that are so ubiquitous in shopping malls. /s

Seriously, people are being so dumbed down by their smartphone.

That's a very, very interesting insight on a socially undesirable aspect of modern technology. Now, do you have any thoughts on how the convenience and anonymity of the Internet has led to so much desk-chair moralizing?

 

[cube]

Many times one goes to buy something before catching a plane, so it is also time critical.

 

[CarlJ]

But at shopping malls, god forbid you actually talk to another human being and ask for directions to a certain store or try to figure out those extremely difficult direction boards that are so ubiquitous in shopping malls. /s

Seriously, people are being so dumbed down by their smartphone.

And if you're arriving at the mall shortly before closing, and want to come in the entrance nearest the store you're going to, who do you recommend talking to in your car, and/or what sign can you consult in your car to see where best to park/enter?

Don't assume that everyone's use case is the same as yours, and that anyone doing things differently is stupid.

 

[Makosuke]

This update is mostly malls, but STILL no SFO? Really, guys? You can probably see the runway from a drone above the Apple campus!

 

[Rogifan]

Amazing work in this article showing how Apple is still way behind Google, especially in regards to places of interest. Apple is adding more detail to its maps but not creating place names so it’s not searchable. Looks like a lot of their POS information is coming from Yelp.

https://www.justinobeirne.com/new-apple-maps

Eddy Cue wasn’t the right guy to lead Siri. I don’t think he’s the right guy to oversee maps either. Tim should move it under the new guy he hired from Google.

 

[cube]

All the US malls they added are in Georgia or Kentucky.

 

[Sasparilla]

Amazing work in this article showing how Apple is still way behind Google, especially in regards to places of interest. Apple is adding more detail to its maps but not creating place names so it’s not searchable. Looks like a lot of their POS information is coming from Yelp.

https://www.justinobeirne.com/new-apple-maps

Eddy Cue wasn’t the right guy to lead Siri. I don’t think he’s the right guy to oversee maps either. Tim should move it under the new guy he hired from Google.

You're right. I just read Obeirne’s article (for those not familiar with him, the guy does serious deep dive analysis of mobile maps & comparisons, they’re fascinating reads).

Totally agree with your assessment. Maps is going to be huge for AR and Eddie isn’t the guy for this.

Some takeaways. A lot of road data is better (replacing Tom tom) which is really good, but a noticeable chunk of actual location information (business / building location information - the where of where you are trying to go to) has gotten worse (govt , business, and personal).

Looks like Apple has a bunch of people in India doing much of the updates and in particular 3D detail of buildings etc. manually (?), for places they live nowhere near, leading to better and worse outcomes. The problem though is this doesn’t scale well which is why the improved area is so small, just CA at this point - can’t just have machines crank out the new improved process for the rest of the world).

A lot of the location details appears to be coming from from Yelp (errors match etc.), making me wonder if updates there are the best way to get detail fixes in the pipeline. (remembering all those Apple maps errors being reported and nothing done for years) All in all, its a bit depressing as it appears Apple isn't headed in the right direction for AR / location (going someplace specific) with maps...which is the point and future of it.

 

[Rogifan]

You're right. I just read Obeirne’s article (for those not familiar with him, the guy does serious deep dive analysis of mobile maps & comparisons, they’re fascinating reads).

Totally agree with your assessment. Maps is going to be huge for AR and Eddie isn’t the guy for this.

Some takeaways. A lot of road data is better (replacing Tom tom) which is really good, but a noticeable chunk of actual location information (business / building location information - the where of where you are trying to go to) has gotten worse (govt , business, and personal).

Looks like Apple has a bunch of people in India doing much of the updates and in particular 3D detail of buildings etc. manually (?), for places they live nowhere near, leading to better and worse outcomes. The problem though is this doesn’t scale well which is why the improved area is so small, just CA at this point - can’t just have machines crank out the new improved process for the rest of the world).

A lot of the location details appears to be coming from from Yelp (errors match etc.), making me wonder if updates there are the best way to get detail fixes in the pipeline. (remembering all those Apple maps errors being reported and nothing done for years) All in all, its a bit depressing as it appears Apple isn't headed in the right direction for AR / location (going someplace specific) with maps...which is the point and future of it.

I get the feeling that Jobs (and the rest of the exec team) didn’t really have a plan for maps other than they needed to break away from Google for obvious reasons. I remember Forstall doing this perfect demo on stage of fly over but not long after Cook had to send out an apology letter because the basics was so bad. If maps is a big key to their AR and car future then the company needs someone other than Cue overseeing it.