UPDATE
08 July 2022
Apple rolls out all-new map across New Zealand
Maps now brings more detailed road coverage, better navigation, three-dimensional landmarks, and incredible features like Look Around, Natural Language Guidance, speed limits and more
Beginning today, users in New Zealand can experience the new Apple Maps, with faster and more accurate navigation; comprehensive views of roads, buildings, parks and shopping centres; and three-dimensional landmarks of locations like the Beehive and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, making it easier and more enjoyable to plan any journey.
“Apple Maps is the best way to explore and navigate the world, all while protecting your privacy. We are excited to bring this experience to even more users with today’s rollout in New Zealand,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Services. “Maps has been rebuilt from the ground up, with better navigation, richer detail, more accurate information for places, and remarkable features that only Apple can deliver, like Look Around, Natural Language Guidance and more. Now it is easier than ever for users to find the places they love and get to where they’re going.”
Maps helps millions of people in over 200 countries and territories navigate and explore the world. Privacy is central to the Maps experience, offering personalised features using on-device intelligence, and it is everywhere customers are: at home; in the office; on the go on users’ iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch; and in the car with CarPlay. Maps is deeply integrated into the most popular apps customers use every day, including Photos, Messages, Calendar, Weather and more. With MapKit and MapKit JS, Maps is also the foundation for thousands of third-party apps and services.
A New Navigation Experience
In addition to the new map, there are many features that help users more easily navigate and explore the world. Siri Natural Language Guidance offers more natural-sounding directions that are even easier to follow, such as, “At the next traffic light, turn left”. Lane guidance helps eliminate wrong turns and directional misses by lining users up in the correct lane before needing to turn or enter an elevated road. As you drive, you see real-time traffic information, including current speed limits. Speed cameras let users know when approaching speed and red-light cameras along a route, with the added ability to see where they are located on the map.
Users can also share an estimated time of arrival with family, friends and co-workers with a simple tap or by asking Siri using Share ETA. The receiver can follow along on the journey, and Maps will update them with a revised estimate for when the traveller is arriving if a significant delay occurs. And users can now safely and easily report an accident, hazard or speed check along their route by simply letting Siri know “There’s an accident up ahead” or “There is something on the road”. Users can even report when incidents displayed on the map have been cleared, all while keeping their focus on the road.
With iOS 15, transit riders in New Zealand can find nearby stations more easily and pin favourite lines. Maps automatically follows along with a selected transit route, notifying users when it’s nearly time to disembark, and riders can even keep track on Apple Watch.
Explore with Look Around
Maps offers interactive street-level imagery with high-resolution 3D photography, and smooth and seamless transitions across New Zealand with Look Around. Users from anywhere in the world can navigate around New Zealand, including Aoraki Mount Cook National Park, the Wellington Waterfront Walk and many more places.
Immersive Walking Directions
With the latest updates, Maps introduces step-by-step walking guidance in augmented reality, available in Auckland and Wellington. Users can simply raise their iPhone to scan buildings in the area, and Maps generates a highly accurate position to deliver detailed directions that can be viewed in the context of the real world.
Discover More Places with Guides
For Maps users looking to explore other parts of the world, Guides make it easy to discover amazing places and find great things to do in many cities around the globe. Guides are a great way to find popular attractions, discover restaurants and get new recommendations from respected brands. Users can tap the Explore Guides button in Maps to access over 2,000 expertly curated guides. In New Zealand, Maps features several curated guides from publishers including Culture Trip, FATMAP and more for enjoying outdoor activities. Curated Guides can be saved, and they are automatically updated when new places are added, so users always have the latest recommendations. Users can even create their own personal Guides of favourite places to share with friends and family.
In addition to the new updates now available, Maps offers many useful features:
- Three-dimensional cities for users to explore, with unprecedented details for neighbourhoods, commercial districts, marinas, buildings and more. Now users can see elevation details across a city, new road labels and custom-designed landmarks in cities around the world, including London; Los Angeles; Montreal; Philadelphia; San Diego; San Francisco; Vancouver; Washington, DC; and more.
- Favourites provides one-tap navigation to frequent places. Whether it’s at home, work, the gym or school, users can simply tap and go once it’s in Favourites on the launch screen.
- Flyover offers a way to see select major metro areas with photorealistic, immersive 3D views. Users can move their device through space to experience a city from above, or explore in high resolution as they zoom, pan, tilt and rotate around the city and its landmarks.
- Indoor Maps for airports and shopping centres make it possible for users to simply open the Maps app and see what level they’re on, restroom locations, and even which stores and restaurants are open.
- Flight status uses on-device Siri intelligence to scan for information stored in Mail, Calendar or Wallet, and proactively serves flight information for terminals, gate locations and departure times, as well as flight changes or cancellations for upcoming travel.
Maps and Privacy
Apple is committed to keeping personal information safe and has built privacy into the core of Maps. With Maps, no sign-in is required. Personalised features, such as suggesting departure time to make the next appointment, are created using on-device intelligence. Any data collected by Maps while using the app, including search terms, navigation routing and traffic information, is associated with random identifiers that regularly reset to prevent connecting search and location data stored on the server to a unique user. Maps goes even further to obscure a user’s location on Apple servers when searching for a location through a process called ‘fuzzing’. Maps converts the precise location where the search originated to a less-exact one within 24 hours.
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