UPDATE 10 December 2021

Apple rolls out all-new Maps across Australia

Maps now features more detailed road coverage, better navigation, three-dimensional landmarks, and incredible features like Look Around, Share ETA, and more

Beginning today, users in Australia can experience the new Apple Maps, with faster and more accurate navigation, comprehensive views of roads, buildings, parks, airports, and shopping centres, and three-dimensional landmarks of locations like the Sydney Opera House, making it easier and more enjoyable to map out any journey.

“Apple Maps is the best way to explore and navigate the world, all while protecting your privacy. We are excited to bring this experience to even more users with today’s rollout in Australia,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Services. “The map has been rebuilt from the ground up, with better navigation, richer detail, more accurate information for places, and remarkable features that only Apple can deliver, like Look Around, Share ETA, and more. Now it is easier than ever for users to find the places they love and get to where they’re going.”

Maps helps hundreds of millions of people in over 200 countries and territories navigate and explore the world. Privacy is central to the Maps experience, offering personalised features using on-device intelligence, and it is everywhere customers are: at home, in the office, on the go on users’ iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch, and in the car with CarPlay. Maps is deeply integrated into the most popular apps customers use every day, including Photos, Messages, Calendar, Weather, and more. With MapKit and MapKit JS, Maps is also the foundation for many popular third-party apps and services like ETA - Live Traffic Alert, Petty, and HeartWatch: Heart Rate Monitor.

A 3D view of the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Apple Maps on iPhone 13 Pro.

A New Navigation Experience

In addition to the new map, there are many features that help users more easily navigate and explore the world. Siri Natural Language Guidance offers more natural-sounding directions that are even easier to follow, such as “At the next traffic light, turn left.” Lane guidance helps eliminate wrong turns and directional misses by lining users up in the correct lane before needing to turn or enter an elevated road. Speed cameras let users know when approaching speed and red-light cameras along a route, with the added ability to see where they are located on the map. Users can also share an estimated time of arrival with family, friends, and coworkers with a simple tap or by asking Siri using Share ETA. The receiver can follow along on the journey, and Maps will even update them with a revised estimate for when the traveler is arriving if a significant delay occurs. Users can now safely and easily report an accident, hazard, or speed check along their route by simply letting Siri know “There’s an accident up ahead” or “There is something on the road.” Users can even report when incidents displayed on the map have been cleared, all while keeping their focus on the road.

With iOS 15, transit riders in Australia can find nearby stations more easily and pin favourite lines. Maps automatically follows along with a selected transit route, notifying users when it’s nearly time to disembark, and riders can even keep track on Apple Watch. Real-time transit information gives detailed transit schedules, live departure times, arrival times, the current location of a bus or train en route, and system connections to help plan a journey.¹ Maps also includes important real-time information like outages.

New navigation features in Apple Maps on iPhone 13 Pro.

Explore with Look Around

Maps offers interactive street-level imagery with high-resolution, 3D photography and smooth and seamless transitions across Australia with Look Around. Customers from anywhere in the world can navigate around Australia, whether it’s Bondi Beach or Broome, or many places in between.

The Look Around feature in Apple Maps displayed on iPhone 13 Pro.

Immersive Walking Directions

Users in Sydney and Melbourne will soon be able to receive step-by-step walking guidance in augmented reality. By simply raising iPhone to scan buildings in the area, Maps generates a highly accurate position to deliver detailed directions that can be viewed in the context of the real world.

Discover More Places with Guides

Guides provides a curated list of places around the world to eat, shop, and explore, created by a selection of trusted resources. Culture Trip, Louis Vuitton City Guides, Prior, Thrillist Australia, and Time Out have created Guides for Sydney and Melbourne, with more to come from Broadsheet, Concrete Playground, and Qantas Travel Insider. Guides are a great way to find popular attractions, discover restaurants, and explore new recommendations from respected brands.

Additional features in Maps include:

Favourites provides one-tap navigation to frequent places. Whether it’s home, work, the gym, or school, users can simply tap and go once it’s in Favourites on the launch screen.

Flyover offers a way to see select major metro areas with photo-realistic, immersive 3D views. Users can move their device through space to experience a city from above, or explore in high resolution as they zoom, pan, tilt, and rotate around the city and its landmarks.

Indoor Maps for airports and shopping centres make it possible for users to simply open the Maps app and see what level they’re on, restroom locations, and even which stores and restaurants are open.

Flight status uses on-device Siri intelligence to scan for information stored in Mail, Calendar, or Wallet, and proactively serves flight information for terminals, gate locations, and departure times, as well as flight changes or cancellations for upcoming travel.

Maps and Privacy

Apple is committed to keeping personal information safe and has built privacy into the core of Maps. With Maps, no sign-in is required. Personalised features, such as suggesting departure time to make the next appointment, are created using on-device intelligence. Any data collected by Maps while using the app, including search terms, navigation routing, and traffic information, is associated with random identifiers that regularly reset to prevent connecting search and location data stored on the server to a unique user. Maps goes even further to obscure a user’s location on Apple servers when searching for a location through a process called “fuzzing.” Maps converts the precise location where the search originated to a less-exact one within 24 hours.

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Text of this article
10 December 2021

UPDATE

Apple rolls out all-new Maps across Australia

Maps now features more detailed road coverage, better navigation, three-dimensional landmarks, and incredible features like Look Around, Share ETA, and more

Beginning today, users in Australia can experience the new Apple Maps, with faster and more accurate navigation, comprehensive views of roads, buildings, parks, airports, and shopping centres, and three-dimensional landmarks of locations like the Sydney Opera House, making it easier and more enjoyable to map out any journey.

“Apple Maps is the best way to explore and navigate the world, all while protecting your privacy. We are excited to bring this experience to even more users with today’s rollout in Australia,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Services. “The map has been rebuilt from the ground up, with better navigation, richer detail, more accurate information for places, and remarkable features that only Apple can deliver, like Look Around, Share ETA, and more. Now it is easier than ever for users to find the places they love and get to where they’re going.”

Maps helps hundreds of millions of people in over 200 countries and territories navigate and explore the world. Privacy is central to the Maps experience, offering personalised features using on-device intelligence, and it is everywhere customers are: at home, in the office, on the go on users’ iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch, and in the car with CarPlay. Maps is deeply integrated into the most popular apps customers use every day, including Photos, Messages, Calendar, Weather, and more. With MapKit and MapKit JS, Maps is also the foundation for many popular third-party apps and services like ETA - Live Traffic Alert, Petty, and HeartWatch: Heart Rate Monitor.

A New Navigation Experience

In addition to the new map, there are many features that help users more easily navigate and explore the world. Siri Natural Language Guidance offers more natural-sounding directions that are even easier to follow, such as “At the next traffic light, turn left.” Lane guidance helps eliminate wrong turns and directional misses by lining users up in the correct lane before needing to turn or enter an elevated road. Speed cameras let users know when approaching speed and red-light cameras along a route, with the added ability to see where they are located on the map. Users can also share an estimated time of arrival with family, friends, and coworkers with a simple tap or by asking Siri using Share ETA. The receiver can follow along on the journey, and Maps will even update them with a revised estimate for when the traveler is arriving if a significant delay occurs. Users can now safely and easily report an accident, hazard, or speed check along their route by simply letting Siri know “There’s an accident up ahead” or “There is something on the road.” Users can even report when incidents displayed on the map have been cleared, all while keeping their focus on the road.

With iOS 15, transit riders in Australia can find nearby stations more easily and pin favourite lines. Maps automatically follows along with a selected transit route, notifying users when it’s nearly time to disembark, and riders can even keep track on Apple Watch. Real-time transit information gives detailed transit schedules, live departure times, arrival times, the current location of a bus or train en route, and system connections to help plan a journey.¹ Maps also includes important real-time information like outages.

Explore with Look Around

Maps offers interactive street-level imagery with high-resolution, 3D photography and smooth and seamless transitions across Australia with Look Around. Customers from anywhere in the world can navigate around Australia, whether it’s Bondi Beach or Broome, or many places in between.

Immersive Walking Directions

Users in Sydney and Melbourne will soon be able to receive step-by-step walking guidance in augmented reality. By simply raising iPhone to scan buildings in the area, Maps generates a highly accurate position to deliver detailed directions that can be viewed in the context of the real world.

Discover More Places with Guides

Guides provides a curated list of places around the world to eat, shop, and explore, created by a selection of trusted resources. Culture Trip, Louis Vuitton City Guides, Prior, Thrillist Australia, and Time Out have created Guides for Sydney and Melbourne, with more to come from Broadsheet, Concrete Playground, and Qantas Travel Insider. Guides are a great way to find popular attractions, discover restaurants, and explore new recommendations from respected brands.

Additional features in Maps include:
- Favourites provides one-tap navigation to frequent places. Whether it’s home, work, the gym, or school, users can simply tap and go once it’s in Favourites on the launch screen.
- Flyover offers a way to see select major metro areas with photo-realistic, immersive 3D views. Users can move their device through space to experience a city from above, or explore in high resolution as they zoom, pan, tilt, and rotate around the city and its landmarks.
- Indoor Maps for airports and shopping centres make it possible for users to simply open the Maps app and see what level they’re on, restroom locations, and even which stores and restaurants are open.
- Flight status uses on-device Siri intelligence to scan for information stored in Mail, Calendar, or Wallet, and proactively serves flight information for terminals, gate locations, and departure times, as well as flight changes or cancellations for upcoming travel.
Maps and Privacy

Apple is committed to keeping personal information safe and has built privacy into the core of Maps. With Maps, no sign-in is required. Personalised features, such as suggesting departure time to make the next appointment, are created using on-device intelligence. Any data collected by Maps while using the app, including search terms, navigation routing, and traffic information, is associated with random identifiers that regularly reset to prevent connecting search and location data stored on the server to a unique user. Maps goes even further to obscure a user’s location on Apple servers when searching for a location through a process called “fuzzing.” Maps converts the precise location where the search originated to a less-exact one within 24 hours.
1. Real-time transit is available in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, and Sydney, and will be coming soon to Melbourne.
Press Contacts

Apple Media Helpline

media.australia@apple.com
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Real-time transit is available in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, and Sydney, and will be coming soon to Melbourne.

Press Contacts

Apple Media Helpline

media.australia@apple.com