When Apple Maps launched with iOS 6 one of the many problems with the new app was its lack of public transit directions and, while Cupertino has made some noticeable improvements to its mapping service in the past year, the app still doesn’t offer any help navigating bus and subway systems. That may soon change though. Earlier this week, Apple posted a job listing on its website looking for a software engineer to work on Maps and specifically focused on public transit.
The job listing reveals that Apple is hiring a “Transit Routing team” to create one of the “most anticipated features” for its Maps app. The company also promises the new feature will be “the world’s best Transit Routing platform.” It’s good to hear that Apple is finally investing in transit directions, especially for those of us who use public transportation to get around on a regular basis, but Cupertino has yet to show us it can do a better job at mapping than Google.
The news doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Apple spent the summer building up its public transit team and software through a series of acquisitions, buying both Embark and HopStop. With most of the pieces in place, it looks like Apple still needs to fill a few positions before it can create its own public transportation directions for Apple Maps. Maybe then we’ll give the app another chance.
Source Apple
