Apple Maps Server API

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Increase performance, lower data usage, and improve battery life across platforms for a variety of Apple Maps features.

Posts under Apple Maps Server API tag

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Questions about Maps Server API / MapKit JS quotas, temporary caching (including sessionStorage), and commercial website usage
Hi, I’m a member of the Apple Developer Program and I’m planning to use Apple Maps Server API together with MapKit JS for a production, customer-facing web service. I have reviewed the Apple Developer Program License Agreement (including Schedule 6 – Apple Maps Services) and the documentation, but I still need clarification on several points to ensure that our usage fully complies with Apple’s policies. Daily quota and additional capacity From the documentation, I understand that there is a daily limit of 250,000 map views and 25,000 service calls per Apple Developer Program membership, shared between MapKit JS and Apple Maps Server API. When the 25,000 service calls are exceeded, the API returns HTTP 429. Should this limit be considered a hard limit for production use? The wording “For additional capacity needs, contact us” is unclear. Is there any official channel or program to request a higher quota, or should we assume this is not practically available and design our system to always stay within the documented limit? Caching of geocoding / reverse-geocoding results Schedule 6 section 2.5 restricts caching, prefetching, or storing map data except when temporary and only as necessary for Apple Maps Services, and any cached data must be deleted after use. To understand what “temporary” means in practice, I would like to confirm whether the following scenarios are acceptable: (a) In-memory cache during a single page or tab session: - Store geocoding results (latitude/longitude and normalized address) only in a JavaScript in-memory structure (e.g., a Map object) during the lifetime of the browser tab. - Delete all cached results when the tab is closed or after a short TTL (for example, a few minutes). (b) sessionStorage with a short TTL: - Store geocoding results in window.sessionStorage on a per-tab basis. - Apply a short TTL (for example, a few minutes), and delete the data when the TTL expires or the tab is closed. Are both (a) and (b) considered acceptable forms of “temporary caching” under section 2.5, or should we avoid sessionStorage and limit ourselves to purely in-memory (non-persistent) caching? Use on a commercial customer-facing website Our intended use case is a public website that: Displays store locations on a map Allows users to search for nearby stores Optionally shows routing directions We do not do fleet management, asset tracking, enterprise route optimization, or insurance risk scoring. Is this type of consumer-facing store-locator use case permitted under the Apple Maps Services terms? Any clarification from the Maps or MapKit teams would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Best regards, Naoto Omori
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Request for Higher MapKit Service/API Quota
Hello Apple Developer Team, I’m currently using Apple MapKit JS as the main map provider for our logistics, telematics, and HR platform TADMIN, and we are extremely satisfied with its reliability, accuracy, and visual quality. We would now like to expand our Apple integration by migrating our backend reverse geolocation services to Apple as well. However, our current usage requirements significantly exceed the standard 25,000 daily service request limit. At this stage, we already need between 250,000 and 350,000 reverse geocoding requests per day, and this number will continue to grow rapidly. Our TADMIN Tracking product processes live GPS data from connected vehicle telematics boxes, and each vehicle sends an average of 1.5 pings per minute in normal mode. We currently manage around 140 vehicles and are already in discussions with new customers that will add over 1,000 additional vehicles to the platform soon. As our customer base continues to expand, we expect this growth trend to accelerate significantly over the coming months. We already make extensive use of caching to minimize redundant geolocation calls. For example, we reuse location data when vehicles remain within a defined radius. However, since trucks rarely stay stationary for long, there is still a constant flow of new coordinates that require reverse geolocation. To give you a broader picture: TADMIN is a comprehensive SaaS ecosystem for the transport and logistics industry, combining HR management, telematics and tracking, dispatching, and data analysis into one integrated platform. The Tracking module is just one part of this system and serves as the live data backbone for our dispatching, HR, and telematics analytics modules. We would therefore like to increase our quotas for: Service Requests (especially Reverse Geocoding) Snapshot Requests, which we use for our Geofence Alerts. These are sent via push notification and email, and we would love to include the snapshot images in the emails for a clear and visually rich presentation MapKit JS Views, since we also use MapKit JS heavily in our web dashboards, for example in our tracking portal Higher quotas would allow us to rely even more on Apple services, including Autocomplete and Geocoding for customer-facing address searches inside our applications. We already have three apps published on the App Store, with a fourth one scheduled for release this week, and I will soon be upgrading my Apple Developer account to an Organization Account for our company. We are currently evaluating providers for this next stage of integration, as we are preparing a new major version of our TADMIN software, which will introduce a reworked telematics backend. Our goal is to migrate to Apple’s geolocation and map services as part of this new release. Could you please advise how we can best address this use case, for example through higher quotas or an adjusted configuration? Thank you very much for your time and support. Best regards, Timo Köhler Founder & CTO, TADMIN GmbH
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Oct ’25
Live Weather Radar Overlay in CarPlay Maps
Hi all — I wanted to share an idea I recently submitted through Feedback Assistant that I think could improve safety and usability for drivers using CarPlay: Add an option to overlay live weather radar (rain, snow, storms, etc.) directly onto CarPlay Maps while navigating. Similar to how traffic conditions are shown now, this would allow drivers to visually track incoming weather in real time without switching apps or relying on separate devices. Why this matters: • Enhances driver safety by increasing situational awareness • Helps with trip planning and route adjustments around severe weather • Reduces distractions by integrating everything into one screen • Useful for everyday drivers, long-haul travelers, and first responders I submitted this via Feedback Assistant, but I’d love to know what others think. If you also see value in this feature, consider submitting your own version via Feedback Assistant so Apple sees there’s interest. Let’s push for smarter, safer navigation — thanks for reading!
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Jul ’25
Apple Maps Server API Geocoding returns empty results for Japanese addresses with lang: 'ja-JP'
Hi, I'm using the Apple Maps Server API (/v1/geocode) to retrieve geocoding results for Japanese addresses. Until recently, requests like the one below returned correct results: GET https://maps-api.apple.com/v1/geocode?q=東京都千代田区千代田1-1&lang=ja-JP Authorization: Bearer <valid JWT> But now, the response is always: { "results": [] } However, when I use the same address with lang: en-US, it returns valid coordinates: GET https://maps-api.apple.com/v1/geocode?q=1-1 Chiyoda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo=en-US "東京都千代田区千代田1-1" is a Japanese address, and "1-1 Chiyoda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo" is the same address written in English. My Questions: Has there been a recent change to the geocoding behavior for Japanese addresses when lang: ja-JP is used? Does the lang parameter affect not only the response language but also the internal parsing logic? Is this a known issue or limitation? The access token is valid and I'm getting a 200 OK response, but results is always empty with lang: ja-JP. Thanks for your help!
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Jul ’25
When should I convert coordinates to GCJ02?
Our backend management system uses Google for Location, and Apple Maps is just one of the solutions in our map component. When should I convert coordinates to GCJ02? Maybe you would say that when you are in mainland China? BUT NOT AT ALL! What if the user does not enable location permission? What if the user has not inserted a SIM card? Or not Chinese SIM card but location in China? OR the user location in China, But use VPN with en overseas IP? All solutions are not perfect, unless you open the API to developers and tell us whether Apple Maps currently uses the wgs84 coordinate system or gcj02, which is the most reliable.
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Jun ’25
Clustering on MapKit for SwiftUI iOS17+
Hi What would be the best way to achieve clustering on MapKit within SwiftUI? We're building a decentralized commerce auction platform that is currently live in Switzerland with 3'500 live auctions that can be discovered on a map. We're now running into the issue that the map gets cluttered, when zooming out and haven't been able to find a way to cluster We moved back to UIKit, where clustering works, but UIKit has other drawdowns. So ideally there is a way to handle it within SwiftUI without having to wrap UIKit or move back entirely to UIKit. Thanks for any help or suggestions! Developer Documentation https://developer.apple.com/documentation/mapkit/mapkit-for-swiftui Julius Ilg AuctionShack
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Jun ’25
MapKitJS Pricing
Hello (: I have a question regarding the current pricing model for Apple Maps APIs, specifically MapKitJS, the Maps Snapshot API, and the Maps Server API. Previously, the documentation and my understanding indicated that the usage limits were defined per day — for example, 250,000 map loads per day for MapKitJS and 25,000 snapshots per day. However, in the Apple Developer Dashboard, I’m now seeing these limits shown on a per-month basis, such as only 25,000 snapshots per-month. This appears to contradict the publicly available information on the official website, which still states daily limits. Has the pricing model officially changed, or is this just a display issue in the dashboard? I need to know this because we're going into release soon, and then we might have thousands of users.
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Apr ’25
How to correct business location?
My organization, Los Angeles Pierce College, rents space to "Topanga Vintage Market", which is a monthly weekend swap meet operation. Apple Maps shows the location as roughly 34.18715° N, 118.58058° W. However, this is the location of the campus Child Development Center, which provides child care services and is not open during the hours of the Topanga Vintage Market. The actual location should be in the adjacent large parking lot, roughly 34.18740° N, 118.57782° W. They do not have a physical building. How do I get this resolved? I am putting a campus mapping application into the App Store real soon now. There is also an entry for "ALC Taco Truck" about 34.18533° N, 118.57349° W, which as far as I know has not been on campus since Covid. Thanks in advance for any guidance you can provide.
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Jan ’25