Apple's Maps app rebuild continues its journey across North America this week, with the company following its pattern of rolling out the enhanced maps in adjacent continental U.S. states.

apple maps midwest update

Before (left) and after – Midwest maps comparison via Reddit user 999999797

Apple has been deploying the enhanced maps up the northeast United States over the last few months, with the rollout recently extending to New York state. Now it has expanded west to cover West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and North Illinois.

You can spot the updated regions by looking for more landscape details like sports fields, parking lots, ground cover, foliage, pools, pedestrian pathways and the like.

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.

revamped apple maps west virginia
The improvements initially rolled out in Northern California in July 2018, followed by Hawaii and Southern California in November 2018, and Arizona, New Mexico, and the Las Vegas metropolitan area in April 2019.

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.

(Thanks, Brian!)

Top Rated Comments

miniyou64 Avatar
70 months ago
Remember when Forestall was ousted because of a few Map issues and things weren’t ready in time?

But now iOS and Mac Apps ship with mission critical features broken and severe bugs that brick devices?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Sasparilla Avatar
70 months ago
Nice to see Apple continuing their improvement of maps. I would like to see Apple add easy user reporting into the app, like Waze.


Remember when Forestall was ousted because of a few Map issues and things weren’t ready in time?
This isn't really related to the article is it? Actually I believe it was because he didn't take ownership of the quality of the release at the time - which was really bad.


But now iOS and Mac Apps ship with mission critical features broken and severe bugs that brick devices?
Not related to the article again. But this isn't new, Apple has had issues with new releases going way back. Leopard was one I was around for, that was rough as well. I don't install updates with big OS changes for a couple of months because you know there will be alot of bugs, its an easy call.

We got a super good release with iOS 12 last year, that may have set people's expectations too high, because it was a bug fix release (with a few new things added), much like Snow Leopard was back in the day.


Are Apple still doing the map business? I thought they quit because no improvement has been done for years.
Gosh you haven't been reading Mac Rumors much eh? Because there have been lots of articles on the updates to Apple Maps for years but in particular in the last couple of years when they've been making big changes.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
madsci954 Avatar
70 months ago
I follow the Apple maps subreddit and I learned a few things from there
- full rollout takes about 6 weeks, all users should have the updates after that
- until then, some people will get the updates and some won’t
- there is no rhyme or reason to get them, they just show up
- if you get the update, they may come and go until the 6 weeks pass
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jonblatho Avatar
70 months ago

Unless I’m recalling wrong, Forstall got kicked due to not apologizing for the issues that maps had?
Right, he reportedly refused to sign the public apology ('https://web.archive.org/web/20121004201624/http://www.apple.com/letter-from-tim-cook-on-maps/') which effectively forced Tim Cook to sign it. In turn, between that and his notorious toxicity which was pushing other executives toward the exits, his head rolled.

ETA for the Forstall worshippers here: Really, if Forstall were a god of software engineering, another company would have hired him as an executive by now with a blank check for his salary. The issue is that no one wants him because he’s a terrible colleague.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rblue78 Avatar
70 months ago
Oh wow I just checked here in Indiana... Really nice; even has the entire layout of our mall with all of the stores. Now if I continue to use it depends on whether or not the chosen route is persistent. For example, with Google, I can stop and get fuel and it won't switch over to the fastest route, but remains on the one I *want*; with Apple, it flips to something else. SURPRISE! You get to drive on I-65, even though you specifically opted out of that by selecting a different route.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sugargliderdude Avatar
70 months ago
one thing i love about these type of maps, its also recording history... i love roaming around on street view looking around my city in 2008...
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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