Apple has made no announcement that can find about a significant expansion in the availability of cycling directions across Canada, but I thought it was worth noting here because it impacts me personally. I need no other excuse.
As of yesterday, Apple’s iOS feature page indicated Canadian cycling directions were only available in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. The list has grown substantially today, adding:
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
Finland
Greece
Ireland
Italy
Monaco, because I guess even tax-dodging billionaires sometimes hop on their bikes, too
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
San Marino
Singapore
Sweden
Switzerland
Thailand
Vatican City
In addition, three places were upgraded from availability in specific cities to, apparently, whole-country directions:
Canada
Spain
United Kingdom
Some of this expansion may truly be new, but it seems to me this page is merely catching up. For example, it only now includes the Netherlands, where cycling directions have been available for a year. The expansion to Calgary was noticed on 4 April by Reddit user drinkyourwaterbitch. I cannot recall receiving an in-app notification of this change which arrives just in time for cycling season here.
I cannot speak to anywhere else but, in my testing, Canadian availability is broad. Coverage includes not only larger cities like Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Ottawa, Victoria, and Winnipeg, but also smaller towns, and even Northern Canada. It also includes rural routes. I was able to get cycling directions within Iqaluit, and between Inuvik and Squamish. Eight-and-a-half days straight, if you are wondering, with a total climb of 70,200 metres.
More practically, the cycling directions within Calgary seem, overall, pretty good. Without changing any settings, Maps sometimes chooses different routes than I would take. On a ride I am familiar with, Maps auto-selected a 51-minute, 13-kilometre path instead of one it says takes 42 minutes over 11 kilometres, the main difference being a 100 metre climb compared to 150 metres. Yet, with a different destination, Maps selected a ride that takes three minutes longer and requires a greater amount of climbing, but is shorter. Both appear to have a similar mix of roads and bike lanes, so I am not sure what to make of this.
I also tried putting in a route to a pharmacy with a particularly excellent selection of coffee beans and other dry goods. Instead of putting me on the protected bike lane on Edmonton Trail, visible from the Look Around imagery, it suggests a route on Fourth Street — which is a one-way road in the opposite direction. The step-by-step directions suggest there is a cycle lane along Fourth Street but I can assure you there is not — I checked. Google Maps gets it right.
Canadian cyclists like myself can rejoice at having much greater coverage that takes into account our unique needs. At last, we can make an informed decision about how we can get to a store that, upon arrival, we find is closed because the listed hours are wrong. It is still Apple Maps, after all.
I am truly happy to have cycling directions here.