Revamped Apple Maps Rollout Reaches New York City

Apple on Monday began rolling out a major update to its New York City coverage in the Maps app, boosting geographical details and correcting numerous errors in the process, according to the New York Post.

The update should see an increase in details on buildings, roads, parks, sports fields, parking lots, ground cover, foliage, pools, pedestrian pathways, and bodies of water.

For example, users looking at Central Park should now see individual baseball diamonds and more detailed footpaths, while buildings are more accurately rendered in the 3D mode thanks to new flight technology to better depict elevations.

Apple may still be rolling out the changes to its servers, as some Reddit users report that the appearance of the new coverage remains patchy and seems to depend on zoom level.

Apple has been deploying the enhanced maps up the northeast United States over the last few months, rolling them out in a stepwise fashion in adjacent continental U.S. states.

The last update brought enhanced maps to the likes of Washington D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, and Maine.

The data is gathered by Apple’s own fleet of sensor- and camera-equipped vehicles, as well as first-party data gathered from iPhones using Apple’s differential privacy. The combined data is also being made to ensure search results are more relevant.

At WWDC 2019, Apple said the updated maps will roll out to the entire United States by the end of the year, followed by additional countries in 2020.