Apple Maps To Offer Choice Of Google, Others For Directions

According to Cult of Mac, Apple is doing something very interesting with iOS 8 Maps. It’s giving people a choice of apps to use for directions.

A GIF in the article shows that once a destination is located users will be able to choose directions from, presumably, any mapping-related app installed on their iPhones:

Starting in iOS 8, users will be able to run a search for locations in Apple Maps and use either Apple’s own driving and walking directions, or switch directly to another app already installed on your device via a simplified menu. 

It also shows users other mapping apps available for download — so it effectively becomes an app-discovery mechanism as well.

In other words if you like the way, for example, Waze or Scout provides directions, those apps will be triggered from Apple Maps itself when you select a route. By the same token if there’s a particularly good public transit app, you can start on Apple Maps and find your directions or routing via that third party app.

This new feature is probably a byproduct of the initially poor rollout of Apple Maps a couple of years ago. I haven’t gone “hands-on” with this experience but I could also imagine it getting old if a user just wants Apple Maps and must choose an app for directions each time (unless there’s a way to select a default).

In many respects this is very un-Appley and perhaps another indication of the Tim Cookification of the company.