Apple recently expanded its Apple Maps lane guidance feature to cover Austria, South African and Switzerland, providing users in those countries access to localized onscreen assets designed to keep drivers abreast of upcoming highway or freeway deviations.
Quietly announced in an update to Apple's iOS Feature Availability website, expanded lane guidance availability adds to Apple Maps' ever expanding list of capabilities.
Accessible in the U.S. and China since the launch of iOS 11, the feature pulls from local navigational aids to inform drivers of upcoming lane changes.
On iPhone, for example, a graphical overlay at the top of Apple Maps displays a set of arrows representing highway, freeway or tollway lanes. When approaching a junction or exit, one or more arrows are highlighted to denote which lane a user should be in to continue on their desired route. A similar UI is presented when using Apple Maps to navigate via CarPlay.
Lane guidance is billed as a safety feature, and comes in handy when driving long distances on unfamiliar roads.
Apple expanded lane guidance availability late last year with an expansion into Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the UK. In January, the company added Belgium, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Sweden to the list. Including the recent additions, lane guidance is now available in a total of 14 countries.
Apple is continuously building out its mapping platform, and just this week expanded Transit data to cover major metropolitan areas of South Carolina.