iOS 27: All the New Apple Maps Features

[nt5672]

Apple Maps seems to work fine if you have one destination and know how to get there.

However, if you are driving cross country and want to stop now and again, finding stopping places is impossible while navigating a route. So we have to run 2 devices, one in navigation mode and one for finding things.

That is when it gets really bad. For example, I don't want to see fast food places no matter how much they paid Apple. We only eat at family (local) and Farm to Table restaurants. Apple is so big on AI, why can't I choose what comes up naturally. Search always misses the family (local) and Farm to Table restaurants even when I specifically ask for them.

We only buy gas from certain stations. Why do I always have to preform a search for the ones we use and why can't I perform that search while navigating.

Anyway long story short, we no longer use Apple Maps because it is terrible for the user.

 

[nt5672]

So basically ads and some nice 3D visuals in an incredibly limited number of places, gotcha!

Dont get me wrong, i like the look of the improved 3D, but i would much rather they spent the money updating the Arieal images and getting the basic 3D function out to 100% overage first. Where i live has no 3D coverage and the photos must be getting on for 5 years old

It seems to be designed for people driving or committing in Cupertino, CA. Or maybe a couple of other big cities. That's it.

 

[ignatius345]

Sponsored crap is coming to Apple Maps very soon.

Yep. I'd bet money it's not going to approach the level of ensh*ttification we see in Waze or Google Maps though.

 

[ignatius345]

However, if you are driving cross country and want to stop now and again, finding stopping places is impossible while navigating a route. So we have to run 2 devices, one in navigation mode and one for finding things.

I'm a ride or die Apple Maps user, but I 100% agree with you here. I don't know who or what Apple needs to buy to get good and current data on stuff like this but it's not great.

Still, I strongly prefer it for navigation, so I end up looking up stuff elsewhere and plugging that data into Apple Maps.

 

[psac]

It seems to be designed for people driving or committing in Cupertino, CA. Or maybe a couple of other big cities. That's it.

it's useless in Manhattan because the buildings are so big, you can't see the streets in the 3D map!

 

[RandalGraves]

None of this matters. It needs to be a completely stand alone product like Google Maps. Sever the partnerships with stale apps like Yelp and Trip Advisor. Wake me up when it's like that and maybe we will talk.

 

[triumvirate]

Yes, sponsored search results labeled as ads, that don’t provide the business with any personal information.

And there’s only one or two.

For anyone who travels a lot, trying to find a good place to have dinner in a strange city is the roughest thing. For new restaurants, the challenge is letting those travelers know they exist - when every hotel’s list is outdated and closed to newcomers.

So yes, I will love it.

For some reason I don’t feel like most of the sponsored folks will be small business/new restaurant types, unless they have the cash.

I feel like it will just be more ad drivel being written into native Apple apps which was once an ecosystem that people paid more money for to avoid all of the ads from places like Google & Microsoft.

Apple is turning into AI ad slop just like the rest of them, it seems, and some people see it as a user-friendly change.

Never in my life have I wanted or desired more ads in my face, and ads actively make me avoid places/products, but that’s just me.

Edit to add: and it’s only “one or two”, for now. Apple only has space to place more intrusive and numerous ads in the future, and shareholders will demand it.

 

[insomniac86]

I’m usually presented with three routes. The “faster” one is nearly always shoved to the top, because apparently Maps has appointed itself my transportation manager. My preferred route occasionally appears, usually second, like an afterthought.
Then, while I’m listening to a podcast, Maps barges in to announce that I can save three whole minutes by taking its “faster” route. If I do not immediately object, it helpfully chooses that route for me. Because silence, apparently, is consent.
The irritating part is that I know my route. It is two minutes faster and three miles shorter than Maps’ allegedly “faster” route. But why let facts interfere with an algorithm’s little performance?
I use Maps because it can warn me about delays and traffic problems before I hit them. That part is useful. What is less useful is having my location data apparently hawked to every fast-food chain within a five-mile radius when all I want is scrambled eggs and bacon. Instead, I get sponsored sludge clogging the search results while I try to work out whether I have already driven past the turnoff.

Choice is in the eye of the beholder. Advertising is glaucoma of the brain.

I also get route options; however, I can simply ignore those as once I start moving my vehicle, it auto-selects the fastest option and enters navigation mode. Again, I don’t have to touch my screen/CarPlay any further.

For routes that I frequently take, it actually knows my custom routes and selects my custom route automatically. This was a pop-up to opt-in when opening Apple Maps after a few times on iOS 26.

As for the ads, we currently don’t have those in Australia. Maps is completely ad-free. And in regards to the USA, which does, it’s my understanding that you only see ads when searching for restaurants, etc. You will never see ads once a route is selected and in navigation mode. Someone correct me if that’s not the case.

 

[insomniac86]

The Local Lists feature seems to be just doing more of the same as it was doing prior to iOS 27 beta, which is to show a bunch of big photos of idealized meals prepared by local restaurants that Apple Maps, much less Siri AI, has no reason to believe I'd want to visit, since neither has any record of me visiting any local restaurant, since I haven't. All that space could be used for other things, like consistently showing me my home location when I need directions back home after visiting some nearby location. As it is, my home location appears only sometimes, and when it doesn't appear, I have to manually enter my home address to get it to display.

If you need to enter your home address, it means you haven’t set your home location on your contact card and/or the auto object creation from Contacts to Apple Maps has glitched. Maps will show Home, Work, School as pinned locations that are always 1 tap away.

 

[RaceTripper]

Utterly depends where you live.

Where is Waze accurate and not so accurte? I'm in the St. Louis metro area, but also traveling on a road trip to Colorado soon.

 

[citysnaps]

Deleted

 

[henryhbk]

Flyover Improvements

Apple says select cities around the world are rendered in sharper, more lifelike detail with improvements to everything from the "shapes of individual trees to the way light reflects off the glass of skyscrapers."

All I can picture is eventually they'll use the "Memoji" data to render a little you into the scene staring lost at your phone at your current location. It will be like that scene in SpaceBalls when they get the tape of the movie...