by Dan Moren
Apple expands cycling directions in US
Justin O’Beirne, who keeps a close eye on Apple Maps, has noted that the company has finally expanded its cycling directions in the US:
As of April 15, 2022, Apple has quietly added cycling directions for the parts of the Midwest covered in Expansion #6, including Chicago (pictured below), Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Charleston…
Indeed, O’Beirne notes that this was the second expansion this month; on April 1, the northeast region was also updated with cycling directions.
A quick check shows, yes: my hometown of Boston does finally have cycling directions. As an infrequent cyclist who is constantly trying to to do more biking, this is a welcome addition.
However, the feature is not without its issues. For example, we have a great bike path nearby, and though Maps’s cycling directions do let you prioritize avoiding hills or busy roads, it’d be nice if we could also put a premium on separated cycling routes; there are lots of cases where I will gladly spend the extra five minutes getting to the bike path to enjoy a safer and more leisurely remainder of my trip. (That bike path is also scheduled to be extended later this year, and I’ll be interested to see how long it takes Apple Maps to take that into account.)
Overall, I’m glad that cycling directions are available in more places; the feature was added back in iOS 14, but had been relatively sparsely rolled out in the last year—a fact I noted on Twitter last fall at iOS 15’s release.