Apple has announced Apple Maps MapKit JS, which will allow developers to embed Apple Maps within a website, a feature that has long been in use by competitors, such as Google Maps and Bing Maps.
The feature has long been available for maps apps by competitors, and MapKit JS has long been used by Apple to offer it’s maps in the Find My iPhone feature on the iCloud.com website, the store searches functionality on the Apple website, and on the WWDC 18 website.
MapKit JS is now available to developers in beta form, allowing them to use it in their own sites. The functionality is similar to the MapKit used by iOS developers to include maps in their apps.
Developers can use the toolkit to display a defined are of their choosing, supply pinpoint locations, and provide navigation directions between two locations.
It is also possible for a developer to add annotations and overlays to maps, display a standard street map or satellite imagery, and enable or disable panning, zooming, and rotation of the map.
MapKit JS also supports standard touchscreen gestures, such as two-finger rotation, and pinch-to-zoom.
Developers wanting to use the MapKit JS beta will need to sign in to their Apple Developer account to obtain a key. There is a free-usage limitation of 250,000 map initializations per key per day, as well as 25,000 service requests which covers geocoding and searches. Developers requiring larger amounts of initializations will need to contact Apple.
(Via AppleInsider)
