Apple Maps Now Includes These COVID-19 Guidelines for Travellers

Earlier this month, Apple added directions to over 20,000 COVID-19 vaccination locations to Apple Maps, and now it’s expanding the pandemic health resources in its mapping app even further by adding guidance for travellers passing through airports around the world.

The new data is being added in partnership with Airports Council International (ACI), which announced the new feature today, providing detailed information about COVID-19 health measures in place at individual airports so that travellers can be kept informed and not left guessing.

• The COVID-19 guidance information will be displayed prominently on each airport’s information card, directly below the “Directions” button.
• A synopsis provides an outline of the health restrictions and recommendations in effect for that particular airport, with a link to the airport’s own COVID-19 page for more information and further resources.

The data is collected from ACI’s web-based Health Measures Portal, so it’s somewhat dependent upon airports providing this information voluntarily, but due to ACI’s high profile within the aviation industry and airports around the world, almost all major international airports have already been keeping this information up to date for months.

ACI has been offering its own Check & Fly app since last August, along with an online web-based portal that allows travellers to look up this information directly from ACI’s database. However, the inclusion of this data in Apple Maps will make it far more discoverable and accessible, since many travellers likely have no idea that the ACI’s database even exists, much less that there’s an app for that.

In fact, while ACI and Apple may have worked together on getting this data into Apple Maps, it’s actually not part of a special data-sharing arrangement between the two organizations. ACI has an industry-standard Airport Health Measures API that’s freely open and “makes this information readily available to passengers and other stakeholders,” meaning that any app or other information broker can plug in and query this data just as easily as Apple Maps can.

The recovery of air travel will rely on passenger confidence in the industry’s focus on their health and welfare. Having this information displayed in Apple Maps will help to make this crucial data much more broadly accessible to passengers. This will help passengers to plan their journeys and be reassured that their health and safety remains a priority for the industry as we all work towards a sustained return to operations and global connectivity.

Luis Felipe de Oliveira, ACI World Director General

As the trade association that represents the world’s airports, ACI’s motivation for making this data available is fairly clear, since if the air travel industry is ever going to recover to pre-pandemic levels, it will be necessary for passengers to regain their confidence in its safety. By having COVID-19 measures readily available, ACI hopes that passengers will feel more comfortable travelling in the knowledge that airports are making health and safety a priority.

Apple Maps and COVID-19 Information

Apple began adding COVID-19 testing locations to Apple Maps last spring, not long after the onset of the pandemic, while also updating Siri to offer COVID-related information in response to user questions like “How do I know if I have coronavirus?”

Details on COVID-19 testing sites are now available in twelve countries around the world, including the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand, while 4,400 businesses have voluntarily added verified “COVID-19 modules” to provide additional information to customers and other visitors to their locations.

As of this month, Apple Maps users in the U.S. can also now get directions to a COVID-19 vaccination provider, either by searching or simply asking Siri a question like, “Where can I get a COVID vaccination?”

This latest addition of airport data, however, doesn’t appear to be restricted to any specific set of countries, since ACI is an International organization. As a result, you should be able to find a COVID-19 information card on many major international airports around the world, and those who don’t yet have that data can easily submit it at ACI’s Airport Health Measures Portal.