Evidence of Apple Maps for OS X Shows Up in iOS 6 Beta

The code found in the iOS 6 Beta shows that Apple's new Maps application may be making its way to OS X in some form. The evidence was discovered by the developer Cody Cooper through the to several older Intel graphics solutions for which map features such as shading are disabled. Though, it is unclear exactly what form Apple's maps would take on the Mac and whether the references are simply for hooks into map-enabled apps on OS X or if there is some more significant mapping solution coming to the Mac.

In this XML file, there is a reference to a set of Intel based graphics chipsets for which certain features like Shading are disabled.

Cody says that older Intel chipsets are known to not support shading very well, and that’s probably why Apple wants to disable that feature on these Macs or will be software rendered.

Maps is a key feature in iOS 6. Apple’s application would allow the company moves away the Google Maps service that Apple has used since the launch of the original iPhone in 2007.