If you’re traveling through the Middle East this year, this could come in handy.
According to the latest monitoring from Apple Maps enthusiast Justin O’Beirne, Apple has begun testing its new Apple Maps design in Israel, Palestine and Saudi Arabia.
The design expansion test apparently began on August 3, 2022, and marks the 16th expansion of the Apple Maps design. Apple starting pushing out the new Apple Maps design in 2020.
So far, Apple has expanded the updated Maps design to Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Singapore, the U.K., Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. It added Apple Maps details in Monaco, Switzerland, and New Zealand in July.
The tests could last for several weeks, and after that, Apple could release an official update of Apple Maps, complete with data for the three new countries. These features include detailed views of roads and foliages, faster and more accurate navigation, 3D landmarks, and the Look Around feature. The new Apple Maps design will also have better views of parks, buildings, airports, and shopping centers.
In his report, O’Beirne noted that Palestinian areas have no POI (Points of Interest) labels and commercial corridors in the test maps. Additionally, Saudi Arabian maps do not yet have turn-by-turn directions.
The countries and territories that support the new map design are as follows:
US
UK
Ireland
Canada
Spain
Portugal
Italy
San Marino
Vatican City
Andorra
Australia
Germany
Singapore
France
Monaco
New Zealand
Belgium
Israel
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Palestine
Saudi Arabia
If you’ve had a chance to test this Apple Maps data within the Middle East region, please let us know about your experience in the comments.
Via The Mac Observer and justinobeirne.com