Users report intermittent availability of notification system for reported / fixed issues

Apr 9, 2014 16:46 GMT  ·  By

As Apple continues to address some of the most common issues in its mapping service, the company has reportedly kickstarted an initiative that allows users to report a flaw and subsequently receive a notification when said issue has been addressed.

Currently in beta and only intermittently available according to MacRumors readers, the feature was initially spotted by a user who “reported an error to Apple in the Maps app on April 6 and was given an option to receive a notification when the issue was resolved, with Apple sending a push notification on April 8 indicating the problem had been fixed.”

Apple has allowed users to report problems with Maps since the service was born, but never to receive a notification regarding the company’s progress towards addressing reported issues.

A leak in March revealed that the Cupertino company had ambitious plans with the next build of the Maps application, especially for iOS 8, the upcoming major version of the company’s mobile operating system powering iPhones and iPads.

A report by 9to5mac (in a string of iOS 8-leak reports) indicated that the Maps application in particular was slated to receive an overhaul, to live up to the “incredibly high standard” of Apple”s customers, according to the report.

Sources cited as responsible for the leak reportedly said that the new Maps app would be “injected with new points of interests and new labels to make places such as airports, parks, train stations, bus stops, highways, and freeways easier to find.”

Furthermore, the cartography design will be cleaner, with streets appearing more distinguishable.

Another major addition will be public transit directions, with the report noting that “iOS 8 Maps will be able to tap into train, subway, and bus data and provide enhanced directions to major airports. The functionality will exist in major cities, such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York, and will expand to other locations across the United States and potentially other countries across the world around the public launch of iOS 8.”

Placed alongside Driving and Walking, the Transit Directions option will display “a translucent panel [that] slides up from the bottom of the Maps app with a list of different routes.”

As part of the annual iOS refresh, version 8 of Apple’s mobile operating system will most likely be deployed as a developer preview at WWDC in June, while the public launch is not expected to occur until later in the third quarter of 2014.