(Pocket-Lint) – Apple Maps has come a long way since its first launch in 2012. With a decade under its belt, and some major improvements over the years, there is now an argument for Apple users that they can choose Apple Maps. Alternatives like Google Maps have been integrated with the rest of Apple’s ecosystem.
Apple Maps has some great tips and tricks that will help you get the most out of it. Here are 14 of our favorites.
Create a guide
Apple Maps has a feature called Guide. For example, you might be planning a day trip to London and you want to make sure you visit a lot of places, be it a landmark, a bar, a restaurant or a park.
You can create your own guide in Apple Maps to help organize your trip.
Search for a location> Swipe up from the bottom card> Tap the Guide button> New Guide> Name your guide> Create.
Once you have created your guide, you can continue to search other places and add to your guide by swiping from bottom to top, tapping on the guide button and selecting your guide from the list.
Clicking on the guide you created will show you a list of places you have included and some useful information about each location, such as opening hours. You can sort by date, name and distance to add.
If you want to view or edit your guide, swipe from bottom to top of the search bar on Apple Maps and scroll until you reach My Guide. Tap your guide and tap Edit in the lower left corner It is also possible to share your guide from here, who is able to see the content of the guide link.
Explore a curated guide
If you do not want to create your own guide, Apple Maps has curated some that have been created by various outlets, such as Lonely Planet, Culture Whisper and TimeOut, to name a few.
To view curated guides, swipe up from the search bar at the bottom of your screen and scroll until you find our preferred guides. You can then scroll through the guides selected by Apple, or you can tap into the Explore Guides and filter by various categories such as Food & Beverage, Things to Do and Nightlife.
Once you have selected a guide to visit, you can press “+” next to each place to add it to a new guide or an existing guide that you have already started.
Look around
Apple Maps has a feature called Look Around that works just like Google Maps Street View.
Whenever you see the binocular icon in the lower left corner of a map, you can tap on it to see a pop up on the map that lets you see what the location actually looks like in real life.
Pop-ups only cover the top half of your screen by default, but if you tap the arrow keys in the upper left corner of the pop-up, it will expand to your entire screen. You can move your finger on the pop up, well, look around.
Share your ETA
Apple Maps allows you to share your ETA so it’s easy to get real-time updates on when you’re arriving for the person you’re meeting. They can’t track your location, but they’ll get updates if you’re not on schedule.
To share your ETA, start directions to where you are going and press Go. At the bottom of your screen, you’ll see the time of your arrival, how long it will take you to travel, and the number of miles or kilometers.
There is a gray arrow to the right of this information, tap it to expand the menu and then tap Share ETA. The person you want to share your ETA with may be in the contact list, if not, tap Open contact and select the person you want to share your ETA with from the list.
Flyover your favorite city in 3D
Apple Maps has a great feature called Flyover, which basically allows you to see specific cities from above in 3D and either take a trip or walk around, which you can do by moving your phone or using your fingers.
Search for the city you want to “flyover” and tap Search. Next to the direction button, you’ll see the flyover button if the feature is available for that city.
Tap the flyover button and then either tap “Start Tour” or move your phone or finger around to look around.
Reduce barriers
If you’re listening to a podcast or audiobook and you don’t want to disturb the spoken instructions from Apple Maps, you can change the settings so that they don’t happen and your new favorite podcast or book doesn’t get interrupted when you need to take the next left.
Open Settings on your iPhone> Scroll down the map> Scroll to the spoken direction> Turn off the direction pause podcast toggle.
Find out where you parked your car
You need to remember Apple Maps when you park your car so you don’t have to. This is great for times when you have to drive on extra roads to park that you don’t even know, or when you’re in an area you don’t know at all.
This feature requires a connection to your car’s Bluetooth or CarPlay stereo to work, but as long as you have it and your location can be determined while parking, the location of your parked car will be shown on the map later.
Open Settings> Scroll to Apple Maps> Scroll down to toggle the parked location and toggle it. You need to make sure location services are turned on for your device and significant locations are turned on in system services.
Add a stop
Ever had directions start somewhere and realized you needed petrol, or you wanted to stop for coffee on the route?
Apple Maps lets you add a stop to your current direction without having to start again. When you start directing, tap the gray arrow at the bottom of your screen and tap ‘Add a Stop’.
Then you can choose from dinner, petrol station, coffee, parking, corner shop and bank. Taping any section will take you to a list of options, where you can select “Go” to add it to your ride.
Scan nearby buildings to find out your location
Finding out where you are when starting first directions from Apple Map can be a little confusing, especially when you’re using the app for walking directions.
You can scan the buildings around you to get a better idea of ​​where you are and where you are going.
Start your directions as normal and when you’re in direction mode, you’ll see a hexagonal shape in a circle at the bottom right of the screen under the mute button.
Taping on it will allow you to scan buildings across the street to help you better define your location. It requires good lighting and will not work for all routes, but if you are a little confused it is worth a try.
Use compass mode
If building mode is not available for your route by pressing above, there is also a compass mode When compass mode is turned on, your phone will turn into a compass and the map will rotate based on your phone’s location.
To turn on compass mode, start your directions as normal, and then tap the icon with the wiggly line on the right edge of your screen. You will then need to move your phone around and be able to determine which way to start.
Allow third party extensions
This is a great tip, although at the moment there is no load of third party apps compatible with this feature of Apple Maps.
There are two classification extensions that will work on Apple Maps if enabled This includes ride booking and restaurant booking. For ride booking, you can choose to toggle on apps like Uber so that you are looking for directions for example and allow you to book a ride directly through Apple Maps instead of switching between Apple Maps and Uber.
For restaurant bookings, a similar principal applies, where you can toggle on compatible apps like OpenTable to show the available tables of restaurants you see on the map.
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To toggle on third-party extensions, open Settings> Tap Apple Maps> Scroll down to Extensions. A tap on Ride Booking will show you compatible apps in this category that you have downloaded to your device. You can toggle individually, while Restaurant Booking will do the same for this category.
Turn on Don’t Disturb
If you don’t want to be bothered by notifications while driving, you can set Apple Maps to automatically turn on Do Not Disturb mode when you feel like you’re on the road using Driving Focus.
Notifications will still come to your device, but you won’t see them unless you turn on this feature. Open Tap the control center and focus tile on your device.
If you tap “+” at the bottom of your screen, you can select driving focus from the list. Next tap and set your preferences. You can choose to allow calls and notifications from specific contacts or choose not to allow anyone. The next time you start driving, the notifications will automatically mute until you stop someone not on your list.
Use your fingers to change the scene
You can change different views on Apple Maps with just two fingers. Swiping up or down with two fingers will change the view between 2D and 3D.
To zoom in on Apple Maps, tap the screen with two fingers and move away from each other. To zoom out, tap the screen with two fingers and move them closer together.
You can also move the map around by tapping with two fingers and rotating around in a circle.
Take a look inside
Apple Maps offers inside maps of some places, such as airports and shopping centers, which help you navigate around.
For example, if you are in London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5, you can use Apple Maps to find toilets, check desks, gates, shops and restaurants. On the right edge of your screen, you can select different levels and if you swipe up from the bottom card, you can filter with different things like toilet or restaurant.
Written by Brita O’Boyle.
