Most of us have used and know how to search in Maps where specific locations, maybe you even use Siri to help you look up directions for places you are going. But have you ever wanted or needed directions when you did not have an address or a name of a business? On a recent vacation to Disney I had an opportunity to use Maps without having a specific address address. If you’ve ever been to a large theme park or just a big venue you know how hard it can be to navigate back to a location. Amongst a maze of unnamed aisles or streets of vendors and endless lines of cars in parking lots it can be easy to get twisted around.
Luckily, the Maps app in iOS has you covered for these situations with a feature that allows you to mark any location and then get directions back to that point. It’s easy to use and provides several enhancements, but like many things in iOS, you might not be aware of these features from the beginning.
First, marking locations might be easier for you if you use the satellite view in Maps. If you’re in the standard Map view that shows just the street, tap the “i” button in the upper-right corner and you can get the satellite view. I discovered this feature by accident myself. OK, it wasn’t me, it was my 6 year old! Sometimes kids really are the best teachers.
Once in the satellite view, position the map over the area you want to navigate to, and then pinch to zoom in. To mark the location, press and hold the exact spot. You can do the same thing in the regular Map view, so don’t feel like you have to be in the satellite view to do this. A pin will appear on the map at the marked location. On the iPad, a panel appears on the left side of the screen with controls and more options. With the iPhone these options appear at the bottom of the screen. From this panel:
Get directions: Tap directions to start navigating to the marked location. The button defaults to tell you how long a drive will be but you can easily switch to walking distances and other means of transportation. You can also tap the route summary to see more details and perhaps choose a different route if that option is available.
Move the marker: To reposition the marker slightly, tap edit location; for a more significant change in location press and hold on a new spot.
Share the marker: If you’re trying to explain to others how to get to you or your marked location, tap the share icon and then an app like messages or mail will appear so you can send the link to your directions.
Delete the marker: Simply tap on remove marker
Make a favorite: For a marked location that you might want to use repeatedly, tap add to favorites and give it a name. After that, you’ll be able to search for the location by name. Maps automatically syncs your favorites via your iCloud account. You can then access your location from another device at a later date if you want.
As I mentioned in the beginning of my article I utilized many of these features on my recent vacation. I literally would have been lost without them! I have navigation built into my car, but found Apple Maps to be significantly more useful when driving as it provided me with multiple routes for most destinations and was fairly accurate for traffic issues and potential faster routes. I easily navigated back to our parked car when we left the theme park also easily located points of interest in our surrounding area. Living in a rural state I don’t always get to use all the features in my devices and apps. It was comforting to know thanks to my devices this country girl could make it in the hustle and bustle of busy cities!