Apple has shown a renewed focus on Maps with iOS 8. Although headline features like transit did not show at WWDC, recent iOS 8 betas are bringing improvements to the ‘Report A Problem’ features. The frequency at which these updates are passed through has also improved dramatically in the past couple of months.
Apple has added a new explicit ‘follow-up by email’ option at the end of the Report A Problem form. This means Apple is now actively looking to get additional information about map queries from customers via email.
The screen also highlights that users will get notifications when the problem is resolved, which gives more incentive for users to continue submitting issues. Before, it was unclear whether customers would get any acknowledgement of their problems.
The old Thank You screen (pictured below) still appears for some types of reports. It is unclear whether the follow-up option is being shown selectively for frequent users of the feature, or whether the feature is simply still rolling out across the platform.
Although exact timing of when this change was implemented is unclear, the iOS 8 Maps now allows users to add a photo to submissions, to help explain and verify the changes. As photos taken by the iPhone are geotagged, Apple will use this attached photo and its metadata as more evidence that the pin is in the incorrect location. By adding a verification photo, requests are more likely to be approved and this should help Apple speed up the process of getting through its submission queue.
Apple is expected to announce the final release date for iOS 8 at its September 9th special event, where it will also announce its new iPhones that will run the new software.
