As promised at the WWDC 2017 Keynote, Apple has started rolling out airport maps and shopping mall maps. If you’re running iOS 11 beta, then you can visit airports in San Jose and Philadelphia, as well as shopping malls in San Jose and San Francisco. The new view shows indoor maps of these locations, with a new tappable info section that lets you find the exact terminal or donut store you’re looking for.
Airport maps and malls maps
The new airport and mall maps take the familiar 3D maps view and move it indoors. In airports, you can see all the stores, lounges, security checkpoints and terminals, and you can view the building by floor. The slide-over info panel can now be used to navigate between terminals, and to quickly locate shops, food outlets, places to buy drinks, and toilets. In short, all the essentials.
Photo: Cult of Mac
You get much the same when navigating a mall, only without the terminals or security checkpoints, and with more product categories in the navigator. The mall maps look super useful, because you can use them to get in and out of the store you want, cutting through the bovine herds in no time.
If you’re running the iOS 11 beta, then pay a visit to one of the newly-added location to check the feature out. So far, says MacRumors, Apple has added Philadelphia International and Mineta San Jose International airports, plus Westfield Valley Fair in San Jose, and Westfield San Francisco Centre in San Francisco.
Hopefully this stab at airport navigation won’t end in tears the way it did back in 2013, when Apple Maps directed a rental car driver to drive across the taxiway.
