Apple Maps picks up public transit directions for Denver, Colorado

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
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in iPhone
Apple on Monday introduced public transit directions for Denver, Colo. to users of its Maps apps for OS X and iOS, continuing a slow expansion of support.




Denver residents can now use Apple Maps to get around the city's bus and light rail systems. As normal, the app will mix-and-match transportation methods as needed, and provide multiple route options where possible.

Although Apple restored transit directions to Maps with 2015's iOS 9 -- having stripped them out in iOS 6 as a part of ditching Google content -- the company has been relatively slow to grow coverage. Most of the cities Apple supports are located in the U.S. and China, and even within its home country there are still significant gaps.

Nevertheless, Apple has been gradually adding more locations throughout 2016. Some recent additions include Atlanta, Miami, Montreal, Rio de Janeiro, the Australian state of New South Wales, and regions serviced by the U.K.'s National Rail.

The iOS 9 feature guide has yet to be updated with many of the recent changes, but has regularly lagged behind actual support.

Apple could be hoping to have more comprehensive transit directions by the time iOS 10 is launched in the fall. That OS is currently in its first developer beta, and will get a public beta next month.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    jonnycakes23jonnycakes23 Posts: 2member
    wish Denver had built the rail line up into the mountains that they talked about 20 years ago.  you could have taken the train from DIA all the way to Vail
  • Reply 2 of 6
    creek0512creek0512 Posts: 111member
    These transit additions to Maps have really accelerated recently. Since April, Apple has added on average 1 city a week.
  • Reply 3 of 6
    mjhnlmjhnl Posts: 27member
    In the meantime... Google Maps has transits for bus, train, walking, cycling of all the cities in the Netherlands. I can't believe Apple is this slow.
    elijahg
  • Reply 4 of 6
    elijahgelijahg Posts: 2,759member
    creek0512 said:
    These transit additions to Maps have really accelerated recently. Since April, Apple has added on average 1 city a week.
    Great! That's a paltry 55 years to map all 2896 cities with a population of over 150k.
  • Reply 5 of 6
    creek0512creek0512 Posts: 111member
    elijahg said:
    creek0512 said:
    These transit additions to Maps have really accelerated recently. Since April, Apple has added on average 1 city a week.
    Great! That's a paltry 55 years to map all 2896 cities with a population of over 150k.
    Uh, no.  The cities they've been adding are major metropolitan areas with populations of several millions.  Also added with this update were smaller cities in Colorado with their own separate transit companies like Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, but the media never mentions these additions.  Similarly, when Apple added "Seattle" it included all of Puget Sound from Bellingham to Port Angeles. Smaller cities such as Providence, RI and Hartford, CT have had support since the beginning, yet they are never counted when people tally up the places Apple Maps already supports.  Apple already supports all of the most complex transit systems in North America, meaning the remaining cities should be added at an increasingly faster pace as the 20 bus lines in a city of 150k will require significantly less work than it took to add the Northeast Corridor.
    edited June 2016
  • Reply 6 of 6
    elijahgelijahg Posts: 2,759member
    creek0512 said:
    elijahg said:
    Great! That's a paltry 55 years to map all 2896 cities with a population of over 150k.
    Uh, no.  The cities they've been adding are major metropolitan areas with populations of several millions.  Also added with this update were smaller cities in Colorado with their own separate transit companies like Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, but the media never mentions these additions.  Similarly, when Apple added "Seattle" it included all of Puget Sound from Bellingham to Port Angeles. Smaller cities such as Providence, RI and Hartford, CT have had support since the beginning, yet they are never counted when people tally up the places Apple Maps already supports.  Apple already supports all of the most complex transit systems in North America, meaning the remaining cities should be added at an increasingly faster pace as the 20 bus lines in a city of 150k will require significantly less work than it took to add the Northeast Corridor.
    Well it's been a year since Apple introduced this feature, and they've only just added London. And even then they've missed out most of the rail network that originates in London but extends north and west. That's not a reasonable speed. Same problem with flyover. Google already has transit data for most major cities, and they added all that within the space of about 5 years.  They also street-mapped most of north America, a lot of south America, and most of Europe, again all within a comparatively short timeframe. Apple's painfully slow at improving Maps.
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