Apple Maps

Apple Maps 3D coverage continues with new cities in France, Hungary, Netherlands and Sweden

After introducing nine new markets to its three-dimensional Flyover view in its in-house mapping service earlier this month, Apple has now brought 3D aerial imagery along with virtual city tours to three new locations across Europe.

Specifically, customers who live in the city of Strasbourg, Dijon or Millau in France, Hungary's Budapest, Sweden's Malmö or in the city of Rotterdam located in the Netherlands are now able to enjoy a highly-detailed 3D representation of their city or take a City Tour.

iCloud.com’s Find My iPhone replaces Google with Apple Maps for all users

Nearly two years after supplanting the stock Google Maps iOS app with its own much-maligned service that resulted in Scott Forstall's ousting, Apple's web-based Find My iPhone service available over at iCloud.com seems to have adopted Apple Maps backend for all users, reports 9to5Mac.

Previously, using the web-based version of Find My iPhone used to rely on Google Maps data. The move could indicate plans to roll out a web-based Apple Maps accessible to anyone through a web browser, allowing the iPhone maker to better compete with Google Maps.

Apple adds 9 new Flyover locations to Maps

Apple this week added a handful of new locations to the 3D Flyover feature in its iOS and OS X Maps applications. The new locations include areas in France, landmarks in Arizona, and other popular spots in the US, New Zealand and Sweden.

First introduced in Apple Maps when it launched alongside iOS 6 in 2012, the Flyover feature allows users to take close-up, 3-dimensional looks at buildings, landmarks and other areas. With today's additions, there are over 100 Flyover locations.

Apple Maps team working to improve community crowdsourcing

A new job listing hints the Apple Maps team is working on improving community crowdsourcing, as well as better Siri and Passbook integration. First spotted by 9to5Mac, the listing calls for a 'Maps Community Client Software Engineer' to join the Cupertino firm's growing Maps group.

According to the position's description, the engineer will focus on "high level UI development of the 'Report a Problem' feature." They'll also be working on the frameworks and plugins that enable Maps to "integrate deeply and seamlessly with other applications" such as Siri and Passbook.

Apple adds new data providers to enhance Maps business listings

Apple has added 10 new companies to the list of data providers for its Maps app, according to Apple Maps Marketing. In a post, first spotted by 9to5Mac, the site says it was given the information by the Cupertino company itself in response to an inquiry.

The inquiry was in regards to submitting one of its clients with a few hundred locations to Apple Maps Connect. Apple replied, saying it's currently only accepting submissions from businesses with 1,000+ locations, but it could reach out to several firms.

New job listing suggests web version of Apple Maps is on the way

Apple is working to bring its Apple Maps app to the web, according to a new job listing on its website. First spotted by 9to5Mac, the listing calls for a "talented and passionate web developer" to help make the company's mapping software "work seamlessly on the web."

This is fairly significant, as the lack of a web version is one of the most glaring holes in Apple Maps right now, other than perhaps transit and maybe some sort of Street View-esque feature. The mapping service is currently only accessible via iOS and Mac hardware.

Video walkthroughs offer detailed look at CarPlay on Pioneer’s $700 AVH-4000NEX receiver

Though we've seen our fair share of CarPlay demos in months past, we still can't get enough of learning about the intricacies of Apple's in-car iPhone entertainment system. You may have head that Pioneer recently released a firmware update bringing CarPlay functionality to five of its 2014 NEX in-dash multimedia receivers, so people don't have to buy a brand new car just to enjoy CarPlay.

As noted by TUAW, Josh Carr of technology repair firm Fix Denver put Pioneer's new software through its paces and created several videos showing off different aspects of CarPlay, including Phone functionality, Apple Maps and various other built-in apps including Spotify, which recently updated its iPhone and iPad app with CarPlay support .

Interested? Jump past the break for more.

Nearly half of Flyover locations now have city tour enabled under iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite

In the run-up to the forthcoming iOS 8 launch, Apple appears to have recently added dozens of cities and landmarks to the automated three-dimensional Flyover tours available in iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, according to evidence MacRumors discovered Sunday. Specifically, as many as 40 locations are Flyover city tour-enabled out of the 90 cities where regular Flyovers are available.

Apple has also been expanding Flyover coverage with the latest additions of the Yosemite National Park in the United States and Wellington in New Zealand.

You can now take a Flyover tour of Yosemite National Park in Apple Maps

Conveniently, Apple's added a 3D Flyover view of the Yosemite National Park in California and Wellington in New Zealand to its Maps service, available across Mac and iOS devices. The latest addition allows you to check out Yosemite's landmarks, or the buildings and other structures in the city of Wellington.

3D Flyover views for the Auckland and Christchurch areas in New Zealand have been added to Apple Maps earlier in the year. The Cupertino company has updated the Flyover availability webpage by adding Wellington and Yosemite to the list...

Apple’s Maps team calling businesses to verify user address corrections

Continuing on with its efforts to refine its mapping software, Apple has apparently begun calling businesses looking to verify user-reported address corrections. In a recent Reddit post, a business owner said he had been contacted by someone with Apple Maps.

Reddit user swb1192 said he received an interesting phone call from a 408 number (a Cupertino, California area code) this week. The person said that they were with Apple's Maps team, and that a user had reported his business address as incorrect, which it was...

Apple loses senior Maps engineer Chris Blumenberg for Uber

Apple's senior engineering manager with the Maps team is leaving the company for Uber, the popular ride-sharing service founded in 2009.

Chris Blumenberg, who long worked on Maps for iOS and OS X and managed Apple's Maps Apps and Frameworks teams, will be taking a position at Uber, according to a report by The Information.

The departure comes as Apple appears to be ramping up hiring to overhaul the Maps backend.

More importantly, this development reaches us amid talk of internal politics, personal issues and managerial incompetencies allegedly causing significant Maps delays, as evidenced by the lack of major iOS 8 Maps announcements at WWDC...

Apple drops Google Maps for own maps in a new beta of the Find My iPhone web app

It would seem that Google gave way to Apple Maps on the web in a new Find My iPhone beta, which was released yesterday alongside iOS 8 Beta 3 and the third OS X Yosemite Developer Preview.

At the time of this writing, the change appeared to affect Apple's Find My iPhone beta on the web, which has switched from Google Maps tiles to an Apple Maps backend. For those wondering, the native iOS app stopped using Google Maps in 2012...