Apple has expanded its Apple Watch running track mode from the USA to more countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, and the UK. The mode automatically detects the running track and offers to enter track mode in the workout app, providing exact distances and lane snapping. This mode uses Apple Maps data combined with a large running track database, unlike Coros & Garmin who detect the track in real-time. The new country expansion does not require a software update and automatically downloads tracks within a 100k radius.
I’ve not had a chance to test this but it should be highly accurate providing you are correctly located in your lane.
More Detail: dcrainmaker.com
More?
Why hasn’t anyone introduced a feature to locate the nearest pool using GPS technology, similar to the running track feature? Perhaps people do not vary their pool locations enough, but this is also the case for running tracks. It is possible that the pool length data is harder to obtain and geo-locate on Maps, although swim.com has partially achieved something similar IIRC. If tracking for pools and running tracks is possible, why not add fixed public swim laps in lakes and iconic race routes on race day?