Transit directions to be available in Apple’s iOs 9; Indoor directions to follow soon
Transit directions will finally be offered in Apple's iOs 9. Aside from outdoor map instructions, indoor directions will also be made available in the future.
APPLE MAPS
Built-in transit directions for subway, trains and buses will be introduced in the new Apple iOs 9 this coming June at the Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC). A report said this would make commuting easy for passengers with updated iPhones. The Apple Maps will be a replacement for Google maps which is currently just being downloaded on the App Store.
The new feature is capable of planning trips and giving approximate travel time for trains, subways and buses. It gives different trip route suggestions which the user may choose from and has a special map view of detailed local transit stops which can be seen from choices of either Standard, Hybrid or Satellite.
As part of its preparation for this new feature, Apple has purchased two companies that have experience in built-in transit and direction maps for iPhones. It also hired transit-focused software engineers since last month. The transit direction was actually a long-overdue promise which was supposed to be launched when iOs 8 debuted.
This did not push through then due to poor project management and other internal reasons. The company though has included more cities, polished the data and created a new push notification scheme to inform users when new cities gain support.
INDOOR MAPS
Aside from transit directions, Apple is also reportedly working on indoor directions, particularly within major landmarks, offices and other buildings. This would facilitate reaching specific destinations when users are inside an establishment.
With this promising and helpful technology, current and future iPhone users could only hope that Apple's transit directions in iOs 9 would finally be a go and would not meet another delay.