Apple recently listed a new Writer/Editor job for the Maps app, which appears to suggest that Apple is planning to build an App Store-like location recommendation feature for Maps.
As noted by The Verge, the job listing, which has since been removed, says that Apple is looking for a person to "help build and grow a brand-new content category for the Apple Maps team," with that person responsible for curating content that helps people explore their communities and find places to visit.
[Apple] is looking for someone to help build exciting and engaging editorial content to help Maps users explore their world. Whether that's locally, or when they're planning an amazing vacation.
Qualifications for the job include an "insatiable curiosity for discovering new places and a passion for telling the world in an engaging manner," "knowledge of food, travel, and shopping trends," and "strong editing skills to help craft engaging digital content."
In the App Store, Apple has a "Today" feature that highlights curated app-related content, and it's possible that in the future, Maps could offer something similar.
Such a role could also focus on making the Apple Maps app more independent of third-party services like Yelp and Wikipedia, which Apple uses to provide reviews and information about points of interest.
Google Maps, one of Apple's main competitors in the mapping space, has a Local Guides service in select cities that's designed to help people find places to visit in new locations, plus there are recommendations provided through a For You tab and a built-in option for polling friends for suggestions on places to go.
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This seems like such a good (and easy) thing to do.
Use my Apple i.d. to verify me and let me become a "verified" content creator like Google does. Let these same people provide Maps updates (road closures, POI changes, etc.) with faster speed as they are verified "super users."
People LOVE Apple and want to help...take advantage of that!!
Recommendations that are tailored to your personal interests would be most helpful, but of course that would require collecting personal information about your likes and dislikes. It's yet another area where privacy fights convenience.
Apple can certainly beef up Maps with general recommendations for everyone, but perhaps they can find a way to use local information on your phone to tweak recommendations to suit each of us.
Before Apple starts to sell us more stuff with their maps, they ought make them more accurate.
Particularly with regard to businesses. I find Maps excellent for routing and transit, but have had mixed results when searching for businesses. One day about a year ago I tried finding a sushi restaurant in the part of Manhattan I was in and got FOUR places that either didn't exist, were inaccurately categoriezed (one was a deli) or had closed down. Pretty weak stuff!
The real question is whether anyone actually uses Apple Maps. I try my best to avoid using any Google products but the reliability of Apple’s offering still prevents me from using it. Maybe work on getting feature parity first?
If you're not using it, how do you know how reliable it is or isn't? For driving and transit directions, it's excellent. Used it exclusively for a long road trip a couple years ago and it worked perfectly, routed us around traffic consistently, and got us to our waypoints very close to the time estimate it had originally given. Also used it more recently to drive around southern Europe. Again, no complaints whatsoever about wayfinding, even in some very tiny places in Spain.
I’d like nothing more than to never have to use Yelp ever again.
An upcoming Maps update that enables you to leave reviews and read others’ would be fantastic.
Collecting photos taken by iPhones inside businesses and shared in the Maps app could use the gyroscope, compass data and machine learning to build a virtual Look Around inside buildings.
