Mikey Campbell
In what appears to be a recent update to Apple's in-house mapping service, hotel reviews pulled from TripAdvisor and Booking.com are showing up in local search results alongside data sourced from Yelp.
Spotted by AppleInsider reader Ram, Apple Maps searches are returning TripAdvisor reviews for specific hotels, including the Days Inn in Monmouth Junction, New Jersey. Further investigation showed Booking.com reviews also popping up in various locations around the world, including China.
Since its inception, Apple Maps has relied solely on Yelp to provide reviews for local search, allowing users to read point of interest reviews without leaving the app. Neither TripAdvisor or Booking.com are listed as sources on Apple's official Maps attribution webpage, but reviews with links to their respective webpages and apps are now appearing in Maps queries.
It is not yet known how Apple plans to incorporate the new services, or to what extent, though it appears that data from TripAdvisor and Booking.com are currently supplementing, not replacing, Yelp information. For example, conducting a search for "Hotels" in the area surrounding Monmouth Junction returns a list of establishments from Yelp's database, while a pointed query for "Days Inn" brings back a list supplied by TripAdvisor.
The new capability may be linked to Apple's acquisition of social navigation startup Spotsetter, which used proprietary algorithms to recommend points of interest based on social network contacts. Prior to Apple's purchase, the app had hooks into TripAdvisor, Zagat and Yelp.
Apple has been working hard to build out its mapping service since a bungled launch in 2012. Most recently, four new sources of business and POI data were added to bolster the app's local search feature.
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13 Comments
I'm glad Apple continues to aggressively build out its Maps app capabilities. This is a highly important and core function of all mobile devices.
I really hope at the next Apple event that something is said about Maps. It's been a long time coming.
Based on this response... Let's hope Apple's services get "bungled" more often.
This is truly a welcome addition.
The lack of a street view is the only reason I turn to Google Maps. Many times, it's finding what the hotel looks like from the outside. TripAdvisor provides pretty good user images to give me a visual reference.
Not sure if Apple Maps will ever get street view or what those minivans with antennas were all about. But personally I find Maps highly usable in my area and getting better every year.
I live in NYC but I've been in Florida, the Orlando are for the past few days and have been using Apple Maps to get around, a lot. I have to say it's for me anyway, it's been amazing. I've been able to get around easily, turn by turn directions have been highly accurate. I hate leaving NYC so this is the first time in all these years Ive had the chance to really use it, and t's been great!