Apple Maps integrates select Amtrak routes, Boston area transit directions
One month after Apple debuted transit directions in its Apple Maps service, the company on Monday added train arrival and departure data for select Amtrak routes, as well as local support for Boston.
With the new data integration, spotted by MacRumors, users now have access to information covering Amtrak's Northeast Regional, Acela Express, Keystone, Lake Shore Limited, Pennsylvanian and Maple Leaf lines. Data is largely limited to certain cities where transit directions are already available in Apple Maps.
In addition to Amtrak timetables and routes, Apple Maps' transit functionality went live in Boston with full infrastructure support for bus, subway, trolley and rail services, The Boston Globe reports. Apple announced plans to bring transit directions to the Boston area earlier this month.
Apple Maps transit compatibility is slowly rolling out in major cities around the world. Currently, the service is available in Baltimore, Berlin, Chicago, London, Mexico City, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Toronto and Washington D.C., as well as 30 cities in China.
For Apple Maps, public transit integration has been a long time coming. Competitor Google Maps has for years offered similar features, but Apple's service adds in extra functionality like top-down views of underground subway and train stations for efficient route planning. Apple Maps also incorporates Siri virtual assistant commands and digital reproductions of real life signage, allowing users to more easily recognize upcoming stops.
With the new data integration, spotted by MacRumors, users now have access to information covering Amtrak's Northeast Regional, Acela Express, Keystone, Lake Shore Limited, Pennsylvanian and Maple Leaf lines. Data is largely limited to certain cities where transit directions are already available in Apple Maps.
In addition to Amtrak timetables and routes, Apple Maps' transit functionality went live in Boston with full infrastructure support for bus, subway, trolley and rail services, The Boston Globe reports. Apple announced plans to bring transit directions to the Boston area earlier this month.
Apple Maps transit compatibility is slowly rolling out in major cities around the world. Currently, the service is available in Baltimore, Berlin, Chicago, London, Mexico City, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Toronto and Washington D.C., as well as 30 cities in China.
For Apple Maps, public transit integration has been a long time coming. Competitor Google Maps has for years offered similar features, but Apple's service adds in extra functionality like top-down views of underground subway and train stations for efficient route planning. Apple Maps also incorporates Siri virtual assistant commands and digital reproductions of real life signage, allowing users to more easily recognize upcoming stops.
Comments
So what good is their feedback in the Maps app if they just don't do anything about it when you report a problem?
Sorry for the rant .... but the article subject WAS Maps.
My commute is funky because I live near an outbound only bus stop... so in the morning I actually catch an OUTBOUND bus... and ride it around until it becomes an inbound bus and makes its way to the nearest subway station.
Every other transit app has me start my commute by walking a mile or so to catch the same bus at an inbound stop. It would technically work... but it's not ideal. Apple Maps nails it exactly right.
Another cool side effect of Transit directions coming to Apple Maps is that any apps that depend on that capability now just came alive in Boston. One of those is ETA. I bought it because it looked cool... only to find out that it relies on Apple Ttansit directions... but just yesterday it started working in Boston!
Have you tried the support page on the web instead?
Apple Maps fixed it and pushed a thank you it's fixed to my device about a week later.
Google changed into into a one way, submitted another fix, they changed it into a one way that was a dead end (w.hat?!?@), submitted another fix, they got it right finally (or so I thought).
About 2 weeks later friends came to visit and they call "we're outside your house", look outside...no one there, "do you happen to remember the exit you took?". Turns out they were several towns over on the same street name in that town. Apparently the last change Google decided to change the name of our street and put a space in the middle. So when they put in our address, it redirected them to the nearest version of that street name not the one closest matching it in the town they entered. Explain they have about a 45 minute more to drive, after already 4 hours on the road.
So, submitted another fix, they get rid of the space and change it from Rd to St (it's Rd and always has been). Submit yet another fix, finally several fixes later it's right.
I guess the moral of the story is *puts on sunglasses* your mileage may vary!
(sorry couldn't help myself)
[EDIT] Fixed a few misspellings I noticed.
It's going to be a long journey for Apple to reach where Google is. Apple Maps metro transit is great, in those few cities where it is, but I like to leave the city every once in a while too...
It's going to be a long journey for Apple to reach where Google is. Apple Maps metro transit is great, in those few cities where it is, but I like to leave the city every once in a while too...
Mostly I think Google is usually more accurate but they are certainly not infallible. Near my summer home in California, they are building lots of new streets in a huge new development. Apple shows some streets that Google does not and some vise-versa.
However, near my winter home, which admittedly is out in the middle of nowhere, Apple has nothing and Google has every single street but with some occasional bad data. For one, regarding the main street near my house, the street view in the hybrid satellite view are off by sometimes as much as 100m or so. When you watch your location while driving, the dot shows up down in the riverbed not on the road. Another annoyance is the names of some of the streets are not at all how the locals refer to them. They used to be correct but Google changed them for some reason, I guess in accordance with local government records or future planning. In the US Apple Maps is serviceable, but apparently not so much in many other countries just yet.