Apple’s Eddy Cue talks Monaco’s Apple Maps makeover for the F1 Grand Prix
Detailed City Experience will offer a fresh look at the race circuit and the city state’s many landmarks...
Apple Maps users, start your engines — ahead of the Monaco F1 Grand Prix on May 25th, Apple is giving the city state a Maps makeover in time for race day.
The new Detailed City Experience for Monaco overhauls the race area map, adding 3D models for locations including Casino de Monte-Carlo, Fairmont Monte Carlo, Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo, Yacht Club de Monaco, and the F1 Paddock Club, with a night-time glow-up in dark mode.
Temporary additions will be made for the race itself, including a race track overlay, markers for the race’s most exciting turns, and useful visitor information for things like footbridges, grandstands and road closures.
It's a fantastic addition to Apple Maps, even if your not a F1 nut, so we just had to chat to Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, about how this all came about.
“Monaco is one of the most historic and visually stunning Grand Prix locations in the world, so we knew we could bring it to life in incredible detail through our Detailed City Experience in Apple Maps,” Cue tells Shortlist exclusively.
The update adds far greater detail to the city’s Maps street-level coverage, including road markings, land cover, trees, and public transit routes, turn lanes, medians, bus and bike lanes, and pedestrian crossings. Drivers get access to a road-level ‘windshield’ view for interchanges, lane exits, and potential traffic issues.
“All across the world, we’ve been driving custom cars and carrying backpacks with LIDAR data collection equipment, which helps us capture important imagery and information about roads, landscapes and more that informs Apple Maps,” says Cue of the effort that goes into each Maps project.
“With our Detailed City Experience, we take this a step further and also develop custom 3D designs of iconic places in each city, capturing the locations in intricate detail to really bring them to life and make our users feel like they are getting an accurate and 3D view into these landmarks.”
From race track to silver screen
“It also is nicely timed with the lead up to the highly anticipated release of F1 The Movie, which premieres in theaters in June,” Cue adds.
The Brad Pitt-starring film, centred around ‘a nomadic racer-for-hire’ who takes a rookie driver under his wing from a failing team, hits cinemas on June 25th.
F1 The Movie gets its own role in the Monaco Maps update, with its logos and posters dotted about the race track and on recreations of the jumbotron screens that line the grandstands. A custom Guide in Maps will offer additional info to the F1 backdrop for the film, exploring the iconic tracks that feature on screen.
This isn’t the first time Apple’s put its map-making and stat-tracking know-how to good use for F1 fans though, with the Monaco release a continuation of an ongoing partnership with Formula One.
“What we’re doing with the Grand Prix de Monaco in Maps builds on our ongoing work with F1,” Cue explains.
“In addition to working closely with them on the upcoming F1 The Movie, in 2023 we worked with F1 to bring the Las Vegas Grand Prix to life in Apple Maps, mapping the race track in incredible detail. And earlier this year, we added F1 coverage to the Apple Sports app allowing fans in the US, UK, and Canada to follow all the excitement on the track throughout the season, including live leaderboards, lap times, and more.”
Setting the standard for future Maps
Could the Detailed City Experience become the default standard for Apple Maps in the future? Cue appears to hope so.
“We want to continue to bring the Detailed City Experience to more places around the globe, and since introducing it in 2021, we have brought it to over 30 cities”, he says
“With each new city, we do it faster, better and with even more detail for roads, public transportation, walking directions, and more. And as we’ve expanded it, we’ve been able to fine tune the 3D landmark designs, making them incredibly accurate and true to the iconic locations' designs.
"We also learned a lot from our work in 2023 on the F1 Grand Prix in Las Vegas, which has enabled us to offer even more in Maps for the Grand Prix de Monaco. For example we are bringing in things like specific race track turns, pedestrian bridges, access points, event advisories and more fun easter eggs.”
For now though, Cue is just excited to let race fans loose on the new Maps update.
“What the team has designed for Monaco is truly remarkable and I think Maps users and F1 fans around the world are going to really enjoy using Maps to explore Monaco and the race.
“It really exemplifies the level of care, attention and detail Apple brings to the user experience.”
Main image credit: Apple
