That said, maps in some locales do not always perfectly reflect the environment. On a trip to some of the further reaches of Canada, for example, I noticed disparities between the geographies of the old and new Maps in terms of the shapes of certain landmasses. But in my experience, it was more of an aesthetic difference than anything else.

Browsing maps is fine, but iOS 6's biggest new feature inside its biggest new feature is the long-awaited addition of turn-by-turn directions. It's a feature that Google has been providing to Android phones for a while, and its inclusion in iOS 6 marks an attempt to obviate yet another standalone electronics device--in this case, the GPS unit. But does it succeed?

Using the turn-by-turn directions feature is easy at least, and you have a couple of different options. In the Maps app, you can search for a destination and then press the Directions button (a right-angle arrow); you'll be prompted to choose your starting point--by default your current location--and a type of directions: car, walking, or public transportation (more on the last in a moment). Tap Route and you'll get an overview of the directions.

You can also, as with previous versions of Maps, tap the Directions to Here or Directions from Here buttons when viewing information about a location. Even quicker than that, is to tap the green Quick Route button that shows up next to the location's name on the map. And, of course, you can also ask Siri (iOS's virtual assistant) to give you directions to a location.

In any of these cases, you'll be given an overview of your route, in some cases including options for multiple routes, . Maps will give you distances and travel times for each route.