Apple Maps Activates AR Walking Directions for Tokyo

Image (modified) via Apple

26 MAY 2022 - Augmented reality (AR) walking directions for Apple Maps have landed in another city. iDownloadBlog says the feature has now been turned on for Tokyo.

This seems like one of those features that shows how amazing augmented reality could be. “To use this mode,” iDownloadBlog says:

…you must raise your iPhone to allow the Maps to scan buildings in your vicinity (…) Those scans, combined with GPS location information and data from the iPhone’s onboard sensors, enable Apple Maps to create a highly accurate position and deliver detailed AR walking directions overlayed with the real world.

It’s that raising your phone part that kills it, for me. In a pair of AR glasses, this would be amazing. Actually, it’s already pretty amazing. But the having to hold your phone up in front of you still kills it for me.

Good for the second-generation iPhone SE or iPhone XR/XS or later, you need to be running iOS 15 to access AR walking directions. You also need to be in London, Los Angeles, Montréal, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, the San Francisco Bay Area, Singapore, Tokyo (as of yesterday), Toronto, Vancouver, or Washington, DC.