Apple Maps Now Supports Transit in Tennessee, Including Nashville, Memphis, and Knoxville Areas

[MacRumors]

Apple Maps now supports public transportation in several Tennessee metropolitan areas, including Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga.

By selecting the Transit tab in Apple Maps on iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch, commuters can navigate with bus routes, complete with arrival and departure times, service advisories, and other detailed information.

Transit agencies supported include MTA in Nashville, MATA in Memphis, KAT in Knoxville, CARTA in Chattanooga, and a few others in outlying areas.

Apple Maps has aggressively expanded its transit-supported cities over the past few months to include St. Louis, Missouri; Richmond, Virginia; Norfolk, Virginia; Tucson, Arizona; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Orlando, Florida; Toledo, Ohio; and Columbia, Charleston, and Greenville in South Carolina.

When the feature launched in 2015, it was initially limited to Baltimore, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Sydney, Toronto, and around 300 cities in China.

A complete list of supported cities can be found on Apple's iOS Feature Availability page. A reliable tipster recently informed MacRumors that Charlotte, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Wichita, Indianapolis, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Brunswick, and Portland, Maine are candidates for the feature's continued rollout this month.

Article Link: Apple Maps Now Supports Transit in Tennessee, Including Nashville, Memphis, and Knoxville Areas

 

[maerz001]

Awesome.
When can it show the way to the missing Apple Store in Croatia?

 

[truthertech]

It's long past time to stop referring to Apple Maps transit rollouts as "cities." They are doing entire regions and now have well thousands of cities covered with hundreds of millions of population around the world. It's also good to periodically remind people as to why Apple doesn't simply turn them on all at once which they could by simply importing the transit companies' data like Google did. Google received and continues to receive criticism about its transit directions, so Apple is customizing each region for more accuracy and user friendliness and integration with local and regional transits. Here's a great article that explains in detail why Apple's approach is better.

https://appleinsider.com/articles/16/07/07/why-apples-transit-maps-are-rolling-out-so-slowly

 

[tzm41]

It's long past time to stop referring to Apple Maps transit rollouts as "cities." They are doing entire regions and now have well thousands of cities covered with hundreds of millions of population around the world. It's also good to periodically remind people as to why Apple doesn't simply turn them on all at once which they could by simply importing the transit companies' data like Google did. Google received and continues to receive criticism about its transit directions, so Apple is customizing each region for more accuracy and user friendliness and integration with local and regional transits. Here's a great article that explains in detail why Apple's approach is better.

https://appleinsider.com/articles/16/07/07/why-apples-transit-maps-are-rolling-out-so-slowly

Question: if their approach is so slow in rolling out cities, would it also be super slow to update anything changed for any of the thousands of cities' transit system they support?

 

[redneckitengineer]

Hey! This is awesome. Another win for Tennessee.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

So how does *transit* specifically compare with google maps now? Both in functionality and coverage?

 

[Mac-lover3]

I like how every time they nail the accuracy part but please Apple a steadier and faster paced rollout in Europe is more than welcome
[doublepost=1523460273][/doublepost]

So how does *transit* specifically compare with google maps now? Both in functionality and coverage?

It’s still worse as in not as much support. But the info is spot on and way easier to use. Google Maps if often wrong at least in my country.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Question: if their approach is so slow in rolling out cities, would it also be super slow to update anything changed for any of the thousands of cities' transit system they support?

Hmm... interesting question. I could see it both ways. If there is a lot of manual work required for each new development then I would imagine it could take awhile, but if Apple has worked out some sort of data-share/integration with the transit systems, then maybe it would be pretty quick.

 

[Gasu E.]

Hmm... interesting question. I could see it both ways. If there is a lot of manual work required for each new development then I would imagine it could take awhile, but if Apple has worked out some sort of data-share/integration with the transit systems, then maybe it would be pretty quick.

Exactly. Part of the integration with each system would be to systematize the integration of updates.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Exactly. Part of the integration with each system would be to systematize the integration of updates.

"Should" be, right? I'd agree with that, but do you know for certain this is what's being done?

 

[cmmncw]

I’ve been keeping a close tab on Apple’s transit directions roll-out, and their coverage in the United States is quite good now. Of the top 75 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S., Apple has transit directions in 57 of them now by my count (and most of the cities not covered are towards the bottom in terms of the population of the 75). Here are the metro areas missing in descending order by metro population:
-Charlotte, NC (they have orange station outlines, so it’s likely coming soon)
-Indianapolis, IN (ditto, orange station outlines)
-Jacksonville, FL (orange station outlines)
-Oklahoma City, OK (orange station outlines)
-Louisville, KY
-Raleigh, NC
-Buffalo, NY
-Rochester, NY
-Grand Rapids, MI
-Tulsa, OK
-Fresno, CA
-Bakersfield, CA
-Albany, NY
-McAllen, TX
-El Paso, TX
-Allentown, PA
-Baton Rouge, LA
-Greensboro, NC

They usually roll out directions in batches within states, so I expect a few upcoming batches (Charlotte, Raleigh & Greensboro in NC together, or OKC & Tulsa in OK together, or Buffalo & Rochester in NY, etc.) Their coverage in Europe, however, still isn’t very good.

 

[jerryk]

Good decision. Tennessee seems to be growing by leaps and bounds these days. Unfortunately, now Nashville and other cities there will get unaffordable

 

[DingeZ]

Hmm... interesting question. I could see it both ways. If there is a lot of manual work required for each new development then I would imagine it could take awhile, but if Apple has worked out some sort of data-share/integration with the transit systems, then maybe it would be pretty quick.

In my experience, the actual timetable info is always spot-on, only some unplanned longer-term changes can be a few days slow. As for the visual information, new lines are always done before opening, but changes in things like the operating company can sometimes take a while.

 

[dsampley]

On a side note, the maps will be more useful if the voters approve a new transit plan with light rail next month.

 

[Lennyvalentin]

At the current rate of expansion, Apple will have achieved world coverage some time in the late 29th century... Oye vey, such fail.

 

[HappyMBAowner]

I'm a big fan and user of all Apple products. I travel a lot. But, unfortunately (and it breaks my heart to say so), Apple Maps stinks and has become totally unreliable for me, compared to Google Maps. Apple Maps keeps on sending me to wrong places, indicating restaurants or stores that don't exist anymore, giving wrong itineraries, etc... I've been comparing Apple Maps vs Google Maps during the last six months and Google Maps is way more precise, more accurate than Apple Maps. Why is Apple that bad? I have no clue. It was working great when they used Google as a basis. Since they dropped it, it's hell.

 

[Gasu E.]

"Should" be, right? I'd agree with that, but do you know for certain this is what's being done?

Yes, because I was a tech product manager for 30 years. Product development starts from a set of requirements, which are ordered by priority. Any product team of even minimal competence would have made this a top requirement. I believe with a high degree of certainty that Apple product teams are of greater than minimal competence.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Yes, because I was a tech product manager for 30 years. Product development starts from a set of requirements, which are ordered by priority. Any product team of even minimal competence would have made this a top requirement. I believe with a high degree of certainty that Apple product teams are of greater than minimal competence.

Then why is Apple maps so slow to update street and business changes?

 

[truthertech]

Question: if their approach is so slow in rolling out cities, would it also be super slow to update anything changed for any of the thousands of cities' transit system they support?

No, not at all. Once they have customized and integrated the transit system maps, updates are an easy matter and as far as time tables, done automatically.
[doublepost=1523510322][/doublepost]

I’ve been keeping a close tab on Apple’s transit directions roll-out, and their coverage in the United States is quite good now. Of the top 75 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S., Apple has transit directions in 57 of them now by my count (and most of the cities not covered are towards the bottom in terms of the population of the 75). Here are the metro areas missing in descending order by metro population:
-Charlotte, NC (they have orange station outlines, so it’s likely coming soon)
-Indianapolis, IN (ditto, orange station outlines)
-Jacksonville, FL (orange station outlines)
-Oklahoma City, OK (orange station outlines)
-Louisville, KY
-Raleigh, NC
-Buffalo, NY
-Rochester, NY
-Grand Rapids, MI
-Tulsa, OK
-Fresno, CA
-Bakersfield, CA
-Albany, NY
-McAllen, TX
-El Paso, TX
-Allentown, PA
-Baton Rouge, LA
-Greensboro, NC

They usually roll out directions in batches within states, so I expect a few upcoming batches (Charlotte, Raleigh & Greensboro in NC together, or OKC & Tulsa in OK together, or Buffalo & Rochester in NY, etc.) Their coverage in Europe, however, still isn’t very good.

Impressive analysis. Thanks

 

[transitobserver]

It's been nearly 6 months since Apple last added transit support for a region outside the US, which was Ireland.

A reliable tipster recently informed MacRumors that Charlotte, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Wichita, Indianapolis, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Brunswick, and Portland, Maine are candidates for the feature's continued rollout this month.

Not expecting Michigan, Oklahoma, or Maine to be added this month, but the following regions might:

• North Carolina
• California
• Kansas
• Wyoming
• Kentucky
• Montana
• Pennsylvania
• Indianapolis

 

[IGI2]

I’ve been keeping a close tab on Apple’s transit directions roll-out, and their coverage in the United States is quite good now. Of the top 75 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S., Apple has transit directions in 57 of them now by my count (and most of the cities not covered are towards the bottom in terms of the population of the 75). Here are the metro areas missing in descending order by metro population:
-Charlotte, NC (they have orange station outlines, so it’s likely coming soon)
-Indianapolis, IN (ditto, orange station outlines)
-Jacksonville, FL (orange station outlines)
-Oklahoma City, OK (orange station outlines)
-Louisville, KY
-Raleigh, NC
-Buffalo, NY
-Rochester, NY
-Grand Rapids, MI
-Tulsa, OK
-Fresno, CA
-Bakersfield, CA
-Albany, NY
-McAllen, TX
-El Paso, TX
-Allentown, PA
-Baton Rouge, LA
-Greensboro, NC

They usually roll out directions in batches within states, so I expect a few upcoming batches (Charlotte, Raleigh & Greensboro in NC together, or OKC & Tulsa in OK together, or Buffalo & Rochester in NY, etc.) Their coverage in Europe, however, still isn’t very good.

Nice report.

Maybe Apple's implementation is better-looking than Google's, but when it comes to Europe, or POLAND. Google is omnipresent to the max here.

 

[tzm41]

No, not at all. Once they have customized and integrated the transit system maps, updates are an easy matter and as far as time tables, done automatically.
[doublepost=1523510322][/doublepost]

Impressive analysis. Thanks

I meant cases when you add a new subway line, for example.

 

[flylcarusfly]

I meant cases when you add a new subway line, for example.

They've been pretty quick about adding new lines. I checked it after Denver opened their most recent line and it was there on the first day. They're slower about small changes though. It took them around 5 days to add a new station in San Diego and adjust the Orange Line. However, they still don't show that the Orange Line here now extends out east to our Arnele Ave Station and this service started on April 29th. Google Maps on the other hand showed the service almost immediately but their computer generated transit maps are so difficult to read that you can't tell at a glance where the lines go to.
[doublepost=1526240645][/doublepost]

It's been nearly 6 months since Apple last added transit support for a region outside the US, which was Ireland.



Not expecting Michigan, Oklahoma, or Maine to be added this month, but the following regions might:

• North Carolina
• California
• Kansas
• Wyoming
• Kentucky
• Montana
• Pennsylvania
• Indianapolis

They've had station outlines in some cities for months that I don't think they'll actually roll out anytime soon. Manila is the first one that comes to mind.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

I saw an Apple Maps Car with street cameras roll down my street today. I assume it was taking street level photos of the neighborhood (like Google does).