Apple Maps has improved significantly since its rather rocky launch in 2012, but its immersive street-level Look Around feature still lags behind Street View in Google Maps. According to a new leak, Apple has big plans to do something about it.
As discovered by reporter Ryan Fae (via MacRumors), code embedded in the newly launched Apple Maps web app reveals some of the areas Look Around will explore next—and a significant expansion seems imminent.
While Look Around’s street photography is currently limited to major cities in the U.S. and a few select regions worldwide, it will soon include major highways, smaller towns and rural areas – initially in the United States.
In addition, there are signs that Look Around will expand into new countries, including Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, China, Belarus, Turkey, Bulgaria, Mexico and Slovakia – which in some cases don’t even have good Street View coverage.
Apple Maps vs Google Maps
SCOOP (for @VirtualStreets_): Apple Maps’ vector tile format used in the web beta is giving away “Look Around” coverage lines, skzk has discovered. It reveals a much larger network of future Look Around coverage. Here’s a look back at what’s next for Look Around🧵 pic.twitter.com/kClNfG6Lj210 August 2024
It’s worth noting that the new markers Apple has put in place for Look Around don’t appear to be finalized yet, so more changes may be on the way. It’s also not clear how long it might take for the improvements to roll out.
In the ongoing battle between Apple Maps and Google Maps, Google clearly has the edge when it comes to being able to offer Street View imagery of most of the world’s roads (and many hiking trails and mountain slopes too). Google also offers a more comprehensive experience when it comes to looking up details about places and businesses.
Still, Apple has caught up nicely when it comes to core maps features, including turn-by-turn navigation. We’ll get further improvements with iOS 18 next month, when you’ll finally be able to search for places in any part of the map, not just around your current location. Apple also recently launched Apple Maps on the web, though it doesn’t currently offer the Look Around feature.
Google Maps recently added some spectacular time-travel augmented reality tricks to coincide with the 2024 Paris Olympics, but next up is Google’s hardware: The Pixel 9 phones and Pixel Watch 3 are launching later today, and you can watch it all live.
