I wouldn’t blame anyone for thinking that Apple has abandoned the Detailed City Experience. Updates on this front have landed at a frustratingly slow pace, but the iPhone maker has just dropped another refresh supposed to remind us that Apple Maps is still around.
The DCE is now live in Austin, Texas, bringing the same impressive improvements as in all the other regions where the same update went live.
The detailed city experience includes highly detailed maps with sidewalks, crosswalks, trees, 3D buildings, and elevation. Apple is paying particular attention to landmarks, creating high-resolution 3D models that almost perfectly resemble the real-life versions. In Austin, you can explore the Texas State Capitol, the Moody Center, the Blanton Museum of Art, and the Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium.
Apple sometimes adds new 3D models, so the maps could get more details in the coming months. Most often, these updates go live silently, so the only way to spot them is to check back again in a while.
Photo: Apple Maps
The slow Detailed City Experience rolloutApple started the DCE rollout in 2021, but only a dozen locations have received it so far. The focus was mostly on American updates, whereas users in Europe received the new maps in very limited locations, such as Amsterdam, Hamburg, London, and Paris.
Everybody expected the DCE to be a global update whose broad availability would be reached shortly after the announcement. But five years later, the DCE is still unavailable for most users, with updates going live at a very slow pace.
There’s a good reason why so many users – those who are running Apple Maps, at least – want the DCE. With this update, Apple Maps is getting not only the new maps, but also improved navigation, including on CarPlay. Apple Maps essentially becomes a solid Google Maps alternative in those regions where the DCE is available.
Photo: Apple Maps
Google’s responseBut while Apple is rolling out the DCE at a pace that makes people forget about the update – at one point, the company needed over 300 days to release a DCE update – Google is moving at a much faster pace.
Google has already announced a similar update for Google Maps. It’s called immersive navigation and includes the same highly detailed experience as in the Apple Maps DCE.
With immersive navigation, Google is putting the focus on terrain details and improved visuals, with Gemini powering more detailed turn-by-turn guidance and offering more context when helping drivers reach a specific destination. Instead of a simple “turn right” instruction, Gemini can check out the map and offer more detailed information, including landmarks and buildings, to make it easier for drivers to figure out where they need to make the turn.
Photo: Apple Maps
The new maps also focus on 3D visuals, though this isn’t necessarily a surprise. Google has been exploring this side of Google Maps with immersive view and immersive view for routes, which uses data from multiple sources, including aerial shots, historic traffic data, and Street View imagery, to create a digital version of a specific region.
The improved Google Maps experience is already live in the United States, and Google plans to bring it to the rest of the world in the coming month. The update involves a lot of work, just like in the case of the Apple Maps DCE, but Google seems to be a lot more committed to updating all regions to the new immersive experience.
Apple’s commitment to Apple MapsWhile Apple still sees Apple Maps as an essential part of its service arsenal, the commitment to rolling out major improvements to the platform appears to have changed after the iPhone maker allegedly abandoned the development of the Apple Car.
Apple Car played a key role in the project, as it was originally supposed to power the self-driving capabilities of the vehicle. Once Apple stopped working on an Apple Car, everybody expected the company to focus significantly more on software and services, including Apple Maps and CarPlay.
Photo: Apple Maps
However, the slow DCE rollout continued, and Apple Maps barely received any significant improvements. Apple also released a web version of Apple Maps, but it lacked and still lacks essential functionality, including the ability to log in with an Apple ID.
Apple Maps continues to be a solid navigation app for users in the United States, while for reviews and business information, Google Maps still appears to be the best option. For everybody else living in non-US regions, Google Maps continues to serve as the preferred mapping platform, at least until Apple accelerates the rollout of the detailed city experience to bring the new maps to more users.
You can see the new detailed city experience in Austin, Texas, in Apple Maps today on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. The new maps are already there for all Apple users, including the 3D landmarks that I highlighted in the gallery here.