How To Open An Apple Maps Location In Google Maps
In iOS 12, CarPlay will support third-party apps. This means that if you prefer to use Google Maps for navigation, you can do so once iOS 12 rolls out. One thing that isn’t changing is Apple Maps still being the default maps app on iOS. You cannot automatically change the maps app and Apple Maps doesn’t let you export a location to a different maps app. If the need calls for it though, you can open an Apple Maps location in Google Maps. The process isn’t the most intuitive.
Apple Maps Location In Google Maps
The trick is to use the longitude and latitude information. That’s how all maps work. Open Apple Maps and add a marker to the location you want to open in Google Maps. Once you’ve dropped the marker, go to its details. The details section gives you the longitude and latitude information but you can’t copy it.
Instead, you need to use the Share option. From the share sheet, select the copy link option, and then paste it in Notepad, or in some other text app.
The longitude and latitude information will be part of the link. It’s a pair of numbers. Copy them to your clipboard and paste them so that they’re separated by a comma.
Next, open Google Maps and paste the numbers i.e., the longitude and latitude numbers inside the search bar. Google Maps will be able to jump straight to the location.
This works on both iOS and macOS but it’s unnecessary on macOS since you can choose to use whichever maps app you want.
Apple is likely to ever let users select their own maps app on iOS but if you use Chrome instead of Safari as your browser, you can use Google Maps for your location searches. Google has worked around the restriction by adding the ability to open its own apps. All apps on iOS can open other apps and Chrome leverages this to communicate with Google Maps. That’s how it opens YouTube links in the YouTube app.
Apple Maps has improved substantially since it debuted. It may not have the best location data for every country in the world, but for most countries it’s data has improved substantially. If you’re weary of the app, it’s worth giving another try. If you live in a country where the map data is still inaccurate and/or incomplete, you have good reason to want to use Google Maps over Apple Maps. It’s unfortunate that it’s so hard for the two to communicate but that’s how it is on iOS.
