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Apple Maps Could Soon Include Local Gas Prices and School Locations

RaduTyrsina

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It seems that Apple has added several new companies to its Apple Maps Acknowledgements page, which could hint to the fact that the company plans to improve its mapping app. The Acknowledgements page lists all of the sources that provide information to Apple for the Maps app and now new listings include GasBuddy/OpenStore and GreatSchools.

AppleMapsMarketing publication speculates that this could lead to Maps upgrades like gas prices on gas station locations and school data for school locations. As you probably know, GasBuddy.com delivers information regarding local gas prices. On the other hand, GreatSchools.org is a community-based site that aggregates information about schools, such as students enrolled, available programs, ratings, and academic test scores.

Andrew Shotland from the website had this to share:

While we had previously discovered that Yext* and a number of local search agencies were going to be providing data to Apple Maps, it looks like Apple made it official some time this past month by adding Yext as a supplier of “Business Listings Data” to Apple Maps’ Acknowledgements page.

The following companies are also new to the Acknowledgements page:

GasBuddy/OpenStore (GasBuddy.com): I assume this is to get gas prices attached to gas station profiles, but I don’t see this data on Apple Maps yet.

GreatSchools (GreatSchools.com): I assume this is to add school reviews and other school data to the maps, but I haven’t seen this data on Apple Maps yet.

National Land Survey of Finland Topographic Database: Might help finding your way around Helsinki.

This should be a big deal for these companies as they can now officially tout to customers that they have direct feeds into Apple Maps. Most of the companies I outed in November were unable to even mention to most of their employees that they were working with Apple because of Apple’s NDA. My understanding as of the end of 2014 is that most of those companies were beta testing working with Apple and had little control or understanding of how Apple was using their data, including whether or not Apple was using their data at all. This public acknowledgement of Yext, GasBuddy & GreatSchools implies that they are or soon will be using data from these three companies.

However, it seems that GasBuddy is not supplying Apple with gas prices but just sharing station information like brand name and address. Timothy Revies with iDownloadBlog said the following:

We spoke to a GasBuddy representative and were told that the company will not be providing Apple Maps with gas prices and similar data, but instead will share station information, specifically the station’s brand name and address. Apple will likely use this data to quickly update any changes in a gas station’s ownership or brand, for example, meaning the GasBuddy iPhone app will still be useful for finding the cheapest nearby gas price.

Apple is also said to be working on some major Maps improvements like transit directions and indoor mapping information.

Source: AppleMapsMarketing, iDownloadBlog
 

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