Apple announced on Wednesday that Apple Maps is now available on the web via a public beta, which means you can now access the service directly from your browser. The launch puts Apple Maps in direct competition with Google Maps, which has long been available on the web.
Maps on the web is accessible in English and is compatible with Safari and Chrome on Mac and iPad, as well as Chrome and Edge on Windows PCs. Apple plans to bring support for additional languages, browsers and platforms in the future.
Apple Maps on the web works like it does on the mobile app. You can get driving and walking directions; order food from the Maps place card; browse curated guides and reviews; and more. Apple plans to bring additional functionality, like its 360-degree panoramic views “Look Around” feature, to the web version in the coming months.
Aisha Malik
Seven years on, I guess it’s time for another comparison between Apple and Google where it counts most for me: my hometown. Last time around I found Apple Maps utterly lacking, failing to show a large lake and the surrounding park on the map. This version is far closer to reality: Herăstrău lake is properly outlined, and so are several businesses and landmarks around it. But the park itself is still weirdly truncated: only the southern half is colored green to indicate vegetation, while the rest is tinted the dull dark grey of the offices and housing areas around it. The level of detail in the roads and alleyways in the park is also evidently lower than in Google Maps. On this basic test, Apple falls short of Google Maps one again, despite the praise in (US) tech circles about its massive improvements.
The web version looks nice and clean, and I was impressed that it included many local businesses as well. Feature-wise though it’s pretty bare-bones: it automatically switches to dark mode based on the browser settings, but there’s no way to choose the mode you prefer – Google Maps doesn’t have a dark mode on the web at all, so technically a minor point in Apple’s favor.
Apple doesn’t offer transit directions though, a significant downside in big cities, and an area Google has constantly improved over time. In the past couple of years, Google managed to integrate arrival times for public transportation, so while you’re waiting at a stop you can check how long until the next bus arrives. There’s no Traffic layer in Apple Maps either, but the driving directions indicate areas with high traffic on the suggested road. The most egregious omission marking Apple Maps as an US-centric product is that it doesn’t even have an option for metric units! Never mind that it would be trivial to select the proper units based either on the country you’re looking at on the map or the one you’re located in. Since it’s a Beta for now it could be added later, but a pretty large oversight to not include such a basic and crucial feature from the get-go.
A more salient question overall is: what purpose is Apple Maps on the web trying to achieve? Continuing Apple’s longstanding policy of dismissing Android, Apple Maps does not currently support any Android browser. Even if it would, I doubt that most people would switch over without a proper Android app, and more personalized integrations like Google’s Timeline and saved places. I would imagine most usage of Maps occurs on mobile devices, from people walking or driving about with their smartphone, so a desktop-only Maps interface is borderline irrelevant. Even if you would use this to look at locations to visit, how would you access this information once you’re on the road?! The best I can come up with is that Apple is attempting to preempt anticompetitive investigations in the EU, which could attack Apple Maps’ status as exclusive to Apple devices. But that is a rather low incentive to develop a compelling product…
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