AppleInsider Staff
As part of ongoing upgrades to its in-house mapping service, Apple on Friday added a handful of entries to its rolling list of providers that supply the company with maps data, business listings and satellite imagery.
In an update to Apple's acknowledgments webpage for Maps data partners, the company quietly announced new business listings provider partnerships with E-WEGO, NavAds, Yellow Pages Group Corp. and Yellow Pages Turkey.
Today's update officially recognizes local search integration of user-generated reviews from TripAdvisor and Booking.com, two major sources of travel-related information. AppleInsider first reported on the additions in February.
After a rocky debut in 2012, Apple Maps has greatly improved as new data providers and internal Apple teams work to refine data accuracy, Flyover imagery, point-of-interest databases and more.
With an overhaul thought to be in the works, Apple this month acquired high-precision GPS hardware and software maker Coherent Navigation. It is not yet known how the firm's technology will be assimilated into Apple's products.
Most recently, Dutch-based mapping data service TomTom confirmed earlier this week that it renewed a contract to provide Apple with street-level data covering North America and Europe.
Apple is expected to announce enhancements to Maps for iOS 9 at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, potentially including long-awaited transit routing capabilities.
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
27 Comments
they need to work more on maps itself i use it all day and it gets old fast when maps asks you which port you want port Newark port of authority when you asked for port washington new york . verbal requests for city and state are often ignored completely with auto substitutions of streets 5 or 6 states away and a simple preference for those of us in commercial vehicles that does not route us on restricted parkways would be nice . at this point google maps kicks maps butt because it hardly ever misses an address (my loyalty always try maps first . dumping more information into the wrong map just will make it as bad as mr ives aversion to back buttons.
There were some businesses (pubs, bars) on the map around my local area, that I only noticed Friday, one of which has been gone for 10 years or so. That doesn't bode well for the new data sources.
Google Maps is not better. It's far away better. Apple has to put some coins into a massive improvement. Just take a billion of the 200. I've all Apple devices and services but I never use Apple Maps because Google Maps is leading.
When was the last time you used Apple maps?
[quote name="Scafe2" url="/t/186397/apple-bolsters-maps-with-more-business-listings-data-providers#post_2726456"]When was the last time you used Apple maps?[/quote] To get a 3D Flyover tour of Modesto ... or was it Bakersfield :???: OTOH, Here's Ronda. Spain -- The oldest bullfight ring in Europe ,,, Getting across the bridge or taking a swim is a little dicey ... [IMG ALT=""]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/58651/width/500/height/1000[/IMG]