Here’s what the souped-up Apple Maps now offers in Switzerland

Ten years ago, Apple broke up with Google and created its own Maps app from scratch. By the time Apple Maps came out, however, that enthusiasm had quickly evaporated, and its excessive rendering errors spawned negative headlines (and new art forms).

But Apple was doomed to succeed. Dependence on the major competitor from Silicon Valley had become too great. And even then, anything related to mobile mapping services and geodata was far too important.

Since 2012, Apple has continuously fixed bugs, eliminated vulnerabilities, and further developed its Maps app. And indeed, the Californians have largely outweighed Google’s lead.

Traditionally, new features are launched first in the home country, the US and other major “markets”, but now Switzerland is finally doing the same. A major upgrade has been available since Thursday (December 15).

Apple has technically revised and pimped its map service. The app now contains a lot of proprietary map material and new functions for Switzerland and Liechtenstein, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

The new Apple Maps offers, among other things, more detailed street information, improved navigation, 3D famous landmarks and “natural language” driving directions. The most exciting feature (from the editor’s point of view) is the “Look Around” feature – this is Google Street View’s counterpart (more on that below).

The “roll-out” began on Thursday (December 15). It is no update required through the App Store. By Friday, all users should be able to see the new maps and try out the new features.

Unlike Google Maps, Apple doesn’t work natively in web browsers, only as an app on Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, Mac). Anyone using an Android device or Windows tablet can access the Apple Maps maps through the privacy-friendly search engine DuckDuckGo.com, but the new features are not yet available there, an inspection (Friday) found.

Try “Look Around” and look around. In particular, it pays to make a virtual visit to your own home and other personally important addresses to see if you agree with the recordings.

Virtually all public (passable) roads in Switzerland, the Principality of Liechtenstein and the three Benelux countries can now be explored with Apple’s 3D view. The feature is accessible in the Maps app via an automatically displayed binoculars icon.

Unlike Google’s “Street View”, there is no static change from image to image when used. The recordings in Apple Maps are processed in three dimensions, so you can move smoothly with a double tap.

For the Swiss launch, Apple focused on street scenes, but some pedestrian areas could also be explored with “Look Around.”

In view of the data octopus Google, Apple positions itself as a company that collects as little personal data as possible about users.

They do not collect any personal data associated with the use of the maps app, it says, “unless you submit ‘Reviews & Photos’ information or report a problem”.

The people and car numbers captured by Apple’s camera cars and special camera backpacks are anonymized by pixelation.

This works perfectly in the places visited by Watson – unlike the early days of Google Street View, which was activated in 2009 and caused legal problems due to insufficient anonymization.

According to the Apple website, anyone wanting to request pixelization of a face, license plate or own house can also contact the company by email.

Apple Maps provides navigation for driving, public transit, and walking. It was not enough for a detailed test of turn-by-turn navigation.

The spoken instructions in traffic must now be kept much simpler. Siri takes context into account, saying, for example, “Turn right at the next traffic light.”

According to Apple, bicycle navigation should follow as soon as possible. That is high on the list of priorities, they say.

Additional information is then displayed on the iPhone and Co. In Switzerland, however, these augmented reality routes are currently only available in the three major cities of Zurich, Basel and Geneva, but not (yet) in, for example, the state capital of Bern, St.Gallen or Lugano.

The (non-exhaustive) list includes:

Apple now uses its own map material.

Since the summer of 2021, the company has been repeatedly recording local roads and trails with specially equipped cars. Map data was also recorded with camera backpacks.

The new map material has been tested by selected Swiss users since early November.

However, Apple is also continuing the long-standing collaboration with TomTom, as evidenced by the source information for the map material (and the display in the app).

An offline mode like Google Maps.

In times of climate crisis, Apple Maps would also do well to show the most economical and environmentally friendly routes, as its major rival already does.

For all Apple devices with the latest Maps app installed: iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, iPod Touch.

As Watson has learned, Apple will continue to expand its map service and add additional map material to the app in the coming months.

So the catching up continues.