Apple Maps vans operating around the clock in run-up to 'iOS 10' debut
With Apple widely expected to announce improvements for its in-house mapping effort alongside "iOS 10" this summer, the company's fleet of sensor-laden vans continues to ply the streets -- even at night.
Apple's vans have been spotted with increasing regularity since they first appeared. A snapshot provided by AppleInsider reader JP shows one of the readily-identifiable vehicles plying the highways outside of New York City after dark, while others have been seen on late-night runs through Boston and its surrounding areas.
After a few months of mystery, Apple officially acknowledged the maps data program last June. The company now provides a listing of locations where the vans are expected to appear in the immediate future.
The sensors attached to the vans -- cameras, LiDAR, and high-sensitivity GPS, among others -- point to a mapping effort broadly similar to that run by Google.
That program is likely to include both ground truth operations as well as environmental capture. The former verifies that roads are where the map thinks they are; the latter scans and collects data on the surrounding area, including depth maps and photographs.
Apple's language surrounding its mapping efforts point to an expansion similar to Google's Street View, and such a feature could be unveiled as soon as this summer. The company is likely to announce iOS 10 -- its next-generation mobile operating system -- at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference held in June.
Apple's vans have been spotted with increasing regularity since they first appeared. A snapshot provided by AppleInsider reader JP shows one of the readily-identifiable vehicles plying the highways outside of New York City after dark, while others have been seen on late-night runs through Boston and its surrounding areas.
After a few months of mystery, Apple officially acknowledged the maps data program last June. The company now provides a listing of locations where the vans are expected to appear in the immediate future.
The sensors attached to the vans -- cameras, LiDAR, and high-sensitivity GPS, among others -- point to a mapping effort broadly similar to that run by Google.
Apple maps van rolling around Boston pic.twitter.com/klngX9ycBw
-- Matt Karolian (@mkarolian)
That program is likely to include both ground truth operations as well as environmental capture. The former verifies that roads are where the map thinks they are; the latter scans and collects data on the surrounding area, including depth maps and photographs.
Apple's language surrounding its mapping efforts point to an expansion similar to Google's Street View, and such a feature could be unveiled as soon as this summer. The company is likely to announce iOS 10 -- its next-generation mobile operating system -- at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference held in June.
Comments
this is obviously not an Apple clone of Street View. Will Apple provide nighttime views as well as daytime? That would make sense.
Google is also likely worried about the rate that Apple is improving Maps. People seem to forget how crappy Google Maps were at the beginning or the fact they STILL have errors (only two blocks from me a street that's been closed to bicycles almost 2 years ago still shows you can drive a car there).
While Google had a "head start", Apple has the advantage of doing Maps with the newest technology (which wasn't available when Google started). For example, the cost to make these mapping vehicles has dropped significantly from when Google started.
Bottom line is Apple Maps will equal (or surpass) Google Maps in the near future, and it would have cost Apple less money/resources to do so.
Its worked well for me in big cities and small towns with dirt roads.
That being said, I am glad to see my county listed on the Apple Map page for this month.
The satellite data in my area is quite outdated. My car from two cars ago still sits on my street from two address changes ago.
Well, the rest of the park consists of the tennis courts, basketball area, swimming pool area, etc. That should all be green because it is part of the park. It is still part of the park! This park is very large also, and the non-green space takes up about 50% of the park. The park, according to Apple Maps, seems to be small, when in reality, it is quite large.
Also, Flyover is a complete joke. Even when it works well, it is still useless.
Siri hands-free, in the car, is also a joke. I click on my car's voice command button, and say "How far am I from XX city?" and Siri says "I cannot tell you because your iPhone screen is off." Well, I don't need my screen to be on to tell me the DISTANCE (I don't need the map). To be fair, I unlock my phone screen and do the same thing, and Siri still gives me the same message about my screen! I just need Siri to say "You are about 15 miles away" and better yet say "You are about 15 miles away and will arrive in 20 mins."
Is there money in just making it harder for Google to gather location information?
The only thing I can reliably use siri for is to schedule things/reminders, and sometimes to message people, and for those thing's it's great. Every other time I use siri I cringe, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. The sad part is that I'm actually setting a pretty low bar. If I type into maps "recycling center north main" I fing expect it to find the recycling center on north main that's 10 min from my home, not a "North Main Recycling" business that's 4 hours away!
The services area of Apple definitely needs some changes, which is probably why Tim stopped mentioning services, and mostly talks about hardware and software. Hopefully, now that services is going to be a bigger part of their narrative to wall st (which I couldn't care less about), their actual services will improve.
*How freakn hard can it be.. google does it
I dont use Street View (or Google Maps), so I hope Apple has something better up its sleeve.