Updates to Apple Maps Make Getting Around a Little Easier
First up is turn-by-turn spoken instructions. Say you’re in New York City for business and you need to get from your hotel in Midtown to a client’s office in the Financial District. Traffic is horrible and the cab driver lets you off a few blocks from your destination. With turn-by-turn instructions, voice commands offer navigational instructions enabling you to keep your eyes up instead of on your phone and avoid running into the teeming masses traversing the city sidewalks. This is even more helpful while driving, when keeping your eyes on the road, and not on your phone, is critical. With 3D views that change as you change direction, it’s kind of like holding a bit of virtual reality in your hand.
If the cab drivers decide to go on strike while you’re in NYC, the Transit feature has got your back with public transit information for subways, buses, trains, and ferries. This feature is not available for every city, but for those featured, it’s customized so that what you see on your screen is the same as what you see on the street. As always, Siri is available to help if needed. For a list of countries and cities where Transit and other Maps features are available, go here.
Perhaps one of Maps’ most useful features is iCloud syncing. Whenever you search Maps on your iPhone, iPad or Mac, the results are synced to Maps on your other devices using your iCloud account. In Maps you can view all your recently searched locations on any of your devices. You can also “Favorite” a location by tapping on the Heart Icon in the upper right hand corner when viewing the details of a location. To find your Recent or Favorite locations, tap on the Search field. A screen will appear showing you recent searches and a link to your Favorite locations. Once you tap on Favorites, you will see an additional option to view people from your contacts app with addresses near that location.
Maps also now includes category searching. Let's say you’re planning that trip to New York City and you want to make a dinner reservation at a restaurant near your hotel. Open Maps and enter in your hotel's address. Once Maps has located your hotel on the Map, tap on the search field again and then tap on the Food category that appears on the search screen. Additional categories will appear allowing you to narrow your search to restaurants. Selecting the Restaurant category displays a list of restaurants near your hotel along with Yelp ratings and price level. Tapping on a restaurant shows you the contact information, photos of the restaurant, and customer reviews. In addition to food, there are numerous other categories including Drinks, Shopping, Travel, Fun and others.
Gone are the days when printing out directions to your destination was necessary. With apps like Maps constantly being changed and updated, there’s almost no excuse to get lost. For the most direct route to meeting all your Apple needs, contact Cranston IT at 888-813-5558 or support@cranstonIT.com.
Perhaps one of Maps’ most useful features is iCloud syncing. Whenever you search Maps on your iPhone, iPad or Mac, the results are synced to Maps on your other devices using your iCloud account. In Maps you can view all your recently searched locations on any of your devices. You can also “Favorite” a location by tapping on the Heart Icon in the upper right hand corner when viewing the details of a location. To find your Recent or Favorite locations, tap on the Search field. A screen will appear showing you recent searches and a link to your Favorite locations. Once you tap on Favorites, you will see an additional option to view people from your contacts app with addresses near that location.
Maps also now includes category searching. Let's say you’re planning that trip to New York City and you want to make a dinner reservation at a restaurant near your hotel. Open Maps and enter in your hotel's address. Once Maps has located your hotel on the Map, tap on the search field again and then tap on the Food category that appears on the search screen. Additional categories will appear allowing you to narrow your search to restaurants. Selecting the Restaurant category displays a list of restaurants near your hotel along with Yelp ratings and price level. Tapping on a restaurant shows you the contact information, photos of the restaurant, and customer reviews. In addition to food, there are numerous other categories including Drinks, Shopping, Travel, Fun and others.
Gone are the days when printing out directions to your destination was necessary. With apps like Maps constantly being changed and updated, there’s almost no excuse to get lost. For the most direct route to meeting all your Apple needs, contact Cranston IT at 888-813-5558 or support@cranstonIT.com.