Apple Maps adding public transit directions in Austria

Apple Maps users in Austria say that transit directions are starting to appear, though as yet they do not cover all public transport.

Continuing its expansion of Apple Maps features, which recently saw improvements for Portugal and also the UK, Apple has seemingly begun rolling out public transit directions in Austria.

According to readers of iPhone-ticker.de, so far only major routes appear to have timetables, however, and Apple has yet to formally announce the improvement.

Apple only occasionally announces individual country improvements, and instead just typically updates its complete list of Apple Maps feature availability. Even then, it only quite slowly updates that list, so it's most likely that the feature is steadily rolling out for all routes in Austria.

The improved transit directions for Austria follows Apple's adding this detail for other major European countries, such as France, Spain, and Germany, in 2020. Apple has stated that Europe is its focus after having completed transit details for the US.

7 Comments

EsquireCats 1268 comments · 8 Years

About 3 years ago

This is a logical next step as many of the end-points for the recently announced Germany PT routes landed in Austria.

Also I just ran a few comparison PT directions in Google Maps and the results aren't stellar, for example on Google Maps:

Some of the place names are for some reason not in German/English... but in Italian. (In Apple Maps the place names match the system's language setting.)
Delayed services aren't being updated into Google Maps (they are in Apple Maps)
The services names are vague, so you need to do more research with the local app to understand exactly which service is in mind. (Apple maps names the exact service.)
Apple Maps shows additional route information (the advisories, including a link to the official document.)
Apple Maps had the intelligence to choose a later starting route that requires less connections/steps and is shorter in overall time. While Google maps showed me routes that started sooner, but required several connections, despite the obviously better alternatives.

So no, I wouldn't worship Google Maps. Apple's competition here will only be the state's own apps which are excellent.

philboogie 7669 comments · 15 Years

About 3 years ago

EsquireCats said:

So no, I wouldn't worship Google Maps. Apple's competition here will only be the state's own apps which are excellent.

Not worshipping any software, but Apple takes the cake for not having an eye for detail. They think the earths diamater is ≈ 375km

philboogie 7669 comments · 15 Years

About 3 years ago

ajl said:

philboogie said:

At this rate they'll never catch up to you-know-who. Ever.

Did you read what EsquireCats just wrote?

I did. But apparently am missing your point. I presume you're referring to the better work Apple is doing to their Maps app compared to Google in Austria(?)
[edit due to poor grammar]