Apple Maps began displaying new administrative boundaries in Vietnam

On the morning of April 29, some users of Apple’s mapping service noticed that the system displays data according to new administrative boundaries. Information is synchronized and automatically updated across iOS, iPadOS, macOS apps as well as the Apple Maps web platform, and users do not need to upgrade the software.

Apple Maps allows users to search by both old and new addresses and only displays information according to new administrative boundaries. For example, when searching for an urban area in Trung Van ward, Nam Tu Liem district, Hanoi previously, the system will display the exact location and information according to the new Dai Mo ward. Similarly, when searching for a street in old Nam Dinh city, the map will display Nam Dinh ward, Ninh Binh province.

The update is still being deployed by Apple to complete all data in the next few weeks. Previously, Google Maps also began providing new administrative boundary information in mid-March.

Thus, the two most used mapping systems in Vietnam have both updated new data after nearly 10 months since Vietnam merged provinces and cities, bringing the total number of provinces and cities from 63 to 34, while the number of communes and wards decreased from about 10,000 to more than 3,300.

The update helps applications that use Apple’s mapping service to use new data. Data in the company’s Mapkits are also automatically upgraded without the need for additional action from the developer.

Although not as popular with Vietnamese people as Google Maps, Apple Maps still has a large number of users thanks to its pre-installation on iPhones, iPads and Mac computers. “Apple” has also gradually paid more attention to the domestic market in recent years when it started deploying map photography vehicles in Vietnam from February 2024. This is part of the company’s process of rebuilding a detailed data system for Apple Maps since 2018 around the world.