If you have a company open to the public, now may be a good time to take a look at the latest enhancement to Apple Maps. Let businesses add useful cards to emails, websites, or elsewhere.
Introducing the Apple Maps web snapshot
Apple quietly announced these snapshots in a note to developers. The company claims that these can be used to share business locations, such as other essential geographic data points such as places of interest, trails and more.
Unlike the core Maps product, these snapshots are not interactive; they are static data points that you can use without JavaScript.
Snapshots can provision the basemap, and developers can create snapshots that change to point to whether a user's device is in normal or dark mode. It is also possible to create snapshots in standard map mode, satellite map or hybrid modes. (The developer note uses Apple Park to illustrate the alterations.)
Create them in Snapshot Studio
The company introduced a tool called Snapshot Studio where developers can create these snapshots to use on a company's public digital portals. It is very simple. Simply choose an address or a point of interest to center your map, after which you can adjust the following settings:
- Width.
- Height.
- Tongue.
- Dark mode.
- Show (or don't show) local points of interest
- Choose from standard, satellite, or hybrid map views.
Once you have your map ready, you can set a single text glyph, marker color, and your preferred marker style (globe, dot, large globe).
Finally, to use the card, you will need to enter your developer account ID and set an expiration date. You can also create a referral limitation, which can prevent your card from being used by sites that you do not control.
The result is a link that you can embed wherever you want the map snapshot to appear; you can see up to twenty-five requests each day with the standard developer subscription. (You can increase this capacity on request.)
Of course, you can also incorporate interactive maps using existing Apple tools, free from two thousand and eighteen.
For whom it is ?
Apple Maps has always and in all circumstances faced the giant of on-line maps Google Maps, but the company has continued to invest in its service; now it could be said that it offers something that sometimes exceeds the offer of Google.
Apple recently sent members of its Maps teams unique thank you gifts for the work they have done to advance the service. “You saw the corners and gave our service customers a revolutionary product that they didn't even know they needed yet,” a side note stated.
We know that businesses around the globe are gradually investing more in local search, and static maps like this are invaluable in advancing those search results.
Apple's partnership to advance privacy with DuckDuckGo means that your cards now appear in search results for that service as well. And the resolve to introduce static maps will meet an emerging need as more businesses realize the opportunity they open by progressing support for multiple web search services across a plurality of browsers.
Creating a system for business users to embed Apple Maps snippets and / or snapshots expands that reach, while also providing a viable (and free) alternative option for businesses looking to run their dependency on Google.
The move is also likely to reflect Apple's progressive progress in the business and enterprise computing markets. After all, the growing prevalence of Apple hardware in business means that many resolution-takers will be more prepared than ever to work with their other products, including the use of Apple Maps.
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