The Next Web has a typically thoughtful and insightful piece today all about the whys and wherefores of Apple leaving public transportation directions out of the current version of its own in-house Maps app that will be replacing the current Google version in iOS 6. I’m not sure if a lot of people actually realize that this is happening, but The Next Web highlights it and explains the reasons why. As the article states, the public transport directions are actually a very useful aspect of the current Google-powered iOS Maps app, especially for city-dwellers. I think that a lot of people will be sorry to see it go (assuming it is, in fact, gone for good, this is a beta, after all) as they find the directions very useful indeed. The Next Web looks into why Apple might have decided to ditch this popular feature, and will instead simply offer a section pointing to the best transit apps for an area, displayed within the Maps app, which all sounds a bit unwieldy and nowhere near as convenient as how the Google app does things now. The Next Web explains that the actual transit details can be quite hard to come by, and that the Google app doesn’t even have transit data available in all areas because of this. The Next Web concludes by telling us all to “chill out” and saying that for all we know, Apple’s planned transit directions feature could be just as good, if not better, than what we have now, we’ll just have to wait and see!

Source:
Why Apple Ditched Transit Directions in iOS 6