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Apple Maps Now Shows Indigenous Lands in Australia and New Zealand

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Starting today, the Apple Maps app on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac now displays Indigenous lands in Australia and New Zealand, such as reserves and protected areas.

Apple-Maps-Indigenous-Lands-Australia-New-Zealand.jpg

In a press release, Apple said the mapping updates were informed by Indigenous peoples, cartographers, language holders, and others in each country.

In Australia, Apple said it referenced language data published by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.

In New Zealand, Apple said it collaborated with local Māori tribes and Indigenous cartographers to develop detailed place cards and map icons for Indigenous lands in the country. The place cards feature information about the local area, and communities can update them with destinations, photos, and text in their own languages.

The mapping updates are available now, with no software updates required.

More details about these mapping updates, and Apple's recent community initiatives in Australia and New Zealand, can be found in Apple's press release.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Apple Maps Now Shows Indigenous Lands in Australia and New Zealand
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/03/27/apple-maps-indigenous-lands-australia-new-zealand/
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cbr1976 said:
Nahh...It's more important to posture.
Click to expand...

How is it posturing? It’s recognizing what’s really on the ground and making sure the maps reflect that as true to reality as possible.

Technology allows us to do that now and we should do it.

If one sees it as a political posturing, then the issue lies within those who see it that way than Apple simply reflecting what’s on the ground on different parts of states, nations and territories.
 
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TokyoKiller said:
It’s atrocious how simple things in Maps for North America are not correct or updated for a while 😩
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I seen quite a few Google Maps cars, but I’ve only seen one Apple Maps car. I think it’s just a matter of how much Apple is willing to spend on getting their maps updated. I’m sure they do a good job in large cities, but outside of those, I don’t think they care very much.
 
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russell_314 said:
I seen quite a few Google Maps cars, but I’ve only seen one Apple Maps car. I think it’s just a matter of how much Apple is willing to spend on getting their maps updated. I’m sure they do a good job in large cities, but outside of those, I don’t think they care very much.
Click to expand...
Apple don't seem to be operating Apple Maps on a scale that makes it a useful service compared to other options. They either need to scale up massively, or stop. Is there value to scaling up? Is they any value to what they do now?

The only other option is crowdsourcing the data. Allow users to use their Apple devices to capture data, and then process it. The user gets credit towards Apple services in return.
 
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gknewell said:
I like how they’ll designate these areas but still caved to the “Gulf of America” crap.
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I don’t understand why this bothers people so much. The gulf is part of North America. It wasn’t changed to the Gulf of the United States. I’m frankly surprised we haven’t seen licensed naming rights yet, the Gulf of Coca-Cola, Mt McDonalds, etc.
 
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Moonjumper said:
Apple don't seem to be operating Apple Maps on a scale that makes it a useful service compared to other options. They either need to scale up massively, or stop. Is there value to scaling up? Is they any value to what they do now?
Click to expand...
I totally agree. They need to do something because I like the privacy features of Apple Maps, but I can’t trust it for making trips where I don’t know where I’m going. If I need to go somewhere and it’s important. I’m not late, I will use Google maps. I really dislike one company, especially Google having a monopoly on mapping but it seems like that’s the case.


Moonjumper said:
The only other option is crowdsourcing the data. Allow users to use their Apple devices to capture data, and then process it. The user gets credit towards Apple services in return.
Click to expand...
I think they have something like this where you can send analytics data to Apple Maps but it’s not the same as detailed data capture that a dedicated vehicle would have. They also have error reporting but not sure if there is anyone at the other end. Perhaps Apple laid off that team? I’ve reported a Valero station as nonexistent for over a year and it’s still on Apple Maps. Think about in the situation if someone was running out of gas and they used Apple Maps to get there. It’s just not trustable.
 
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gknewell said:
I like how they’ll designate these areas but still caved to the “Gulf of America” crap.
Click to expand...
The name changed. Apple doesn’t make these decisions. They just list it on the map. It’s like if a street name was changed to something controversial, do you expect Apple Maps to say no we’re not going to change it on our map?

I was upset when they took Pluto off the list of planets, but it is what it is.
 
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russell_314 said:
I seen quite a few Google Maps cars, but I’ve only seen one Apple Maps car. I think it’s just a matter of how much Apple is willing to spend on getting their maps updated. I’m sure they do a good job in large cities, but outside of those, I don’t think they care very much.
Click to expand...

I've not once seen an Apple car or a walking mapper but I can tell you Apple Maps updates Toronto with such regularity, that new buildings under construction show up in multiple phases of completion. Just because you don't see them, doesn't mean they're not driving around.

This building, from one spot and from a slightly different spot. An Apple Maps car mapped this location at least twice within months:

Screenshot 2025-03-27 at 11.10.00.png

Screenshot 2025-03-27 at 11.09.44.png


Apple Maps is as good as the size of the market. It's very location dependent. Toronto is known to have very high iPhone usages so it gets regular updates. If you live in a small town or a city full of Androids, don't expect to get tons of updates, Apple prioritizes best serving the most people, not individual locations.
 
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ipedro said:
I've not once seen an Apple car or a walking mapper but I can tell you Apple Maps updates Toronto with such regularity, that new buildings under construction show up in multiple phases of completion. Just because you don't see them, doesn't mean they're not driving around.

This building, from one spot and from a slightly different spot. An Apple Maps car mapped this location at least twice within months:

View attachment 2496308
View attachment 2496309

Apple Maps is as good as the size of the market. It's very location dependent. Toronto is known to have very high iPhone usages so it gets regular updates. If you live in a small town or a city full of Androids, don't expect to get tons of updates, Apple prioritizes best serving the most people, not individual locations.
Click to expand...
I think you overlooked part of what I was saying. Yeah they go around large cities and I think that’s their focus. To be fair if they don’t have enough mapping cars, that’s where they have to focus. My point is they need to expand beyond big cities because not everyone lives in a big city. At least in the USA there are a whole bunch of smaller cities and towns with a population of 100k or so.


russell_314 said:
I’m sure they do a good job in large cities, but outside of those, I don’t think they care very much.
Click to expand...
 
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mansplains said:
I don’t understand why this bothers people so much. The gulf is part of North America. It wasn’t changed to the Gulf of the United States. I’m frankly surprised we haven’t seen licensed naming rights yet, the Gulf of Coca-Cola, Mt McDonalds, etc.
Click to expand...

In my experience and travels, Canada and Mexico calls people from the U.S. "Americans". We call ourselves "Americans." It's meant to highlight the word America. They are from north American too, but don't call themselves Americans and don't say they are from America.

The name predates the formation of the United States a couple hundred years, and it's an E.O., so no one voted on it, congress didn't have any hearings. Ruling by decree shouldn't even be a thing in the U.S., which is supposed to be a representative democracy. We don't own the gulf.

..plus, the name will be changed back as soon as Trump is out of office since executive orders have no staying power. They are a lazy tool for lazy presidents.

TLDR: It's dumb.
 
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