New Apple Maps Flyover city tours uncovered, shown off in iOS 8 beta

Posted:
in iPhone edited August 2015
Apple looks set to give virtual vacationers a new way to experience some of the world's great cities from above with Flyover city tours, pre-made aerial guides that take viewers on a digital sightseeing trip using Apple's 3D Flyover technology.



Flyover city tours were quietly announced by Apple at last week's Worldwide Developers Conference, and an early version of the feature has been uncovered by developer Pierre Blazquez using hidden debug menus in the latest iOS 8 beta release. Video of a Paris city tour was published by Mac4Ever.

In the video, Apple Maps is shown automatically zooming in on and panning around notable Paris landmarks including the Panth?on and the Notre Dame cathedral. The motion is smooth and fluid, suggesting that at least some of the data for individual city tours could be pre-cached.

According to Blazquez, Apple has created tours for the cities of Barcelona, Rome, Stockholm, New York, Glasgow, Cape Town, Perth, Bordeaux, and San Francisco in addition to Paris. It is unclear at this time whether Apple plans a city tour for every Flyover-enabled locale or if they are choosing only historically significant areas for the treatment.

Flyover launched alongside the original version of Apple's maps in iOS 6 and, despite a few hiccups, has been widely praised for its fidelity. The technology powering Flyover came from Swedish firm C3 Technologies, which Apple acquired in 2011 for what some estimate was as much as $250 million.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 24
    wubbuswubbus Posts: 70member
    Looks nice but hard to see users getting a lot of ongoing usage out of.
  • Reply 2 of 24
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member

    Seems like a very easy to implement feature that leverages all the work they've done with 3D mapping. I approve.

  • Reply 3 of 24
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member

    Unleash the LIDAR drones!

  • Reply 4 of 24
    waterrocketswaterrockets Posts: 1,231member

    This has been done though. There are 2010 videos of the same stuff in slightly less detail.

  • Reply 5 of 24
    This has been done though. There are 2010 videos of the same stuff in slightly less detail.

    Great catch. I missed the part where Apple and the writer said this was new and never been done before. I did see how they are saying this is now being done better and will be a highlight feature.
  • Reply 6 of 24
    ricochetricochet Posts: 18member
    I may be mistaken, but it looks like the lines of people at Notre Dame got incinerated!
  • Reply 7 of 24
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,712member
    ricochet wrote: »
    I may be mistaken, but it looks like the lines of people at Notre Dame got incinerated!

    They were probably English or American tourists and couldn't speak French.
  • Reply 8 of 24
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,108member
    I love Flyover and it was one of the things I was looking forward to most when I got an iPhone (other than having an iPhone!), but can someone please tell me why all the buildings, everywhere, look like they're covered in cobwebs? A strange gray murky tint to everything.
  • Reply 9 of 24
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post

     
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Ricochet View Post



    I may be mistaken, but it looks like the lines of people at Notre Dame got incinerated!




    They were probably English or American tourists and couldn't speak French.

     

    No; they were Android users.

  • Reply 10 of 24
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Fred1 View Post



    I love Flyover and it was one of the things I was looking forward to most when I got an iPhone (other than having an iPhone!), but can someone please tell me why all the buildings, everywhere, look like they're covered in cobwebs? A strange gray murky tint to everything.

     

    Because they are?

  • Reply 11 of 24
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,108member
    Because they are?

    No.
  • Reply 12 of 24
    fred1 wrote: »
    Because they are?

    No.

    Have you checked?
  • Reply 13 of 24
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,108member
    Have you checked?

    Of course. I wouldn't have asked if I hadn't. Compare the Centre Pompidou in Flyover to a photo from the web.

    (I tried tom post them in this reply, but it doesn't work).
  • Reply 14 of 24
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member

    It's probably just an effect created from combining the textures from a few different photos.  The photos will likely be taken at different times of the day, so blending the colours will normalise them, and might make them seem a bit washed out, creating the cobwebby effect.

  • Reply 15 of 24
    fred1 wrote: »
    Have you checked?

    Of course. I wouldn't have asked if I hadn't. Compare the Centre Pompidou in Flyover to a photo from the web.

    (I tried tom post them in this reply, but it doesn't work).

    1000

    I can't see any cobwebs here, but it's a pretty low quality image on my iPad 2. It's possible that I would see thousands if I could zoom in closer.
  • Reply 16 of 24
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,108member
    I keep trying to post photographs from Camera Roll. I tap on the photo button here on the reply menu, choose a photo from Camera Roll, tap on submit, I
    And I get bounced to the top of the comments, with the text I had written gone. Hmmmm
  • Reply 17 of 24
    fred1 wrote: »
    I keep trying to post photographs from Camera Roll. I tap on the photo button here on the reply menu, choose a photo from Camera Roll, tap on submit, I
    And I get bounced to the top of the comments, with the text I had written gone. Hmmmm

    Have you given access to Photos? Fully quit the AppleInsider app or Safari and reopen, then grant access. Let me know if you need more help.
  • Reply 18 of 24
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,108member
    Thanks for the suggestion. Yes, I gave access. And I tried quitting the AI app, but no difference. I'm doing this on an iPhone 5 with the latest OS.
  • Reply 19 of 24
    fred1 wrote: »
    Thanks for the suggestion. Yes, I gave access. And I tried quitting the AI app, but no difference. I'm doing this on an iPhone 5 with the latest OS.

    Make sure you wait for the photo to upload first. 400

    Edit: just tried it with my iPhone 5. Are you using the AppleInsider app?
  • Reply 20 of 24
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,108member
    OK, thanks again. Here's another try.
    Flyover quality vs. photo: (yes, I' using the AI app.)
    [IMG][IMG]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/44956/width/200/height/400[/IMG][/IMG]
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