Gatwick Airport South Terminal

As the holidays draw near, most major airports across the United States (and the world) have kicked into high gear for their busiest time of the year. With millions of passengers flying for Christmas or New Year’s, airport terminals are known to get pretty chaotic. In light of this, Apple Maps has rolled out a timely update to help hassled travelers breathe a li’l easy: Indoor maps for 34 airports across the globe.

While the major chunk of this list is made up by US cities, prominent international airports like London’s Heathrow and Gatwick, Hong Kong International, Amsterdam, Berlin, Geneva, and a couple of Canadian airports have also been mapped by Apple. So, passengers can quickly access useful information like the location of their boarding gate, or see where restrooms or dining options can be found.

How to use Apple’s indoor maps

The airports for which indoor maps are available have been labeled with a telling phrase: ‘Look inside’. Once you tap on that, you get a bird’s eye view of the detailed floor plan of the terminal. Zoom in to see the locations of landmarks like security checkpoints, baggage belts, departure gates, elevators, restrooms, shopping areas, restaurants, et al. A level indicator lets to switch between floors, as well as multiple terminals of the same airport.

If you have some time to kill at the airport, you can also use the ‘browse’ tab to hunt for dining options of your choice or look up specific items on your shopping lists, such as shoes. Once you select an outlet, a third-party app will pull out information like the operating hours, phone number and reviews of that place. Apple is working with airport authorities to make sure this information is continuously updated, and it would be in the know if a brand shuts shop or a new outlet/service comes up anywhere.

For the uninitiated, Apple first announced its ambitious indoor mapping plans at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2017. And we’re just glad to see the company stepping up efforts to make its Maps better post a disastrous debut in 2012. You can see the complete list of airports where indoor maps have been made available here.