Apple adds more 3D cities to iOS 6 Maps - Page 3

Quote:

Originally Posted by SolipsismX 

@ Dick Applebaum,
I don't get the point you are trying to make. It sounds like you are saying that FlyOver is more invaluable than Street View and have chosen examples that show some scenic overview which appears disingenuous. Try a city with tall buildings and look for a lone addresses where the door is sandwiches between two high rises. I've used Street view for that before. It's simply not possible with FlyOver once the buildings get a certain height.
To be cler, I'm fine with FlyOver being included. You've clearly shown some scenic uses, but you have not shown how it's a better option when it's less detailed — show me a house number on a mailbox, something I've done with Street View to send something a thank you gift — and doesn't coer the street level.
Why is so bad to want Apple to include this useful feature into their own mapping app? I'd like Apple to take it one step farther and use a similar system that they use in FlyOver to have their own Street View but with all the people and cars removed in post processing but still using actual images for the buildings on the 3D street level structure.

Not at all!  I am just trying to combat the attitude that "Street View is mandatory" and "Arial View is Fluff".

They are both useful in their own way!

Depending on the cameras they use -- I suspect that the Arial views could show as much detail as the current "Street View" -- they have satellite cameras that can read the license plates on cars.  (I just did a Street View of my Daughter's house with her van parked in the driveway -- not 20 feet from the middle of the street.  You can't read the license plate).

As to a view sandwiched between 2 tall buildings...  I addressed this on another thread:  the arial view displays areas in succession -- if your connection is slow, you will often progressively get:

• the display of a building in the background
• the display of another building in front of the above, which blocks the first from view

When you think about it, it has to be this way (each building identified, photographed and generated/displayed individually) to enable you to rotate and view the building from all sides.

That's pretty sophisticated!  I suspect Apple could add a UI button to pause or eliminate the display of the building(s) in front of the one you're interested in -- or just display the building in isolation (green screen everything else).

As I understand it,  "FlyOver" is the automatic continuous display of an arial view.

I think Arial View, sometimes has an advantage over Street View because it is less detailed!  In the prior post about Flint Center, I was able to get a medium shot Arial View that quickly let me focus on the detail view I wanted.  The Street View was too granular, you can't zoom out to an overview, and it is difficult to navigate and turn corners.

Here's an exercise -- do an iOS 6 hybrid maps view of Redding CA (No 3D data available):

1. you get the 2D BirdsEye Overhead View
2. enable 3D and you get a perspective view of the 2D data
3. now change to Standard {map only) View while in 3D

The above illustrates a 3rd way to view maps -- from a 3D perspective, even when 3D data is not available.

In some situations this is better than either Overhead View or Street View.

I certainly think that Apple should provide Street View in iOS 6 Maps -- even if it has to license the data from Google (though I'd prefer Google not recording the fact that I am looking for a pub... with a pole in it).

This is a great idea... Really!   And it'd be the best Leggo set ever!

Some final thoughts:

1. If Arial View is of such little value -- why was Google in such a big rush to upstage Apple with the Google Arial View?
2. What do you do if you want more detail and Street View is not available -- Arial View (3D data or not) is a useful alternative
3. Every map is wrong and out of date the instant it is created --  but we can still use them to great advantage

I have never seen such rubbish cherry picking as in this thread. We are getting Cupertino, Cupertino is better on 3D than streetview. A randomly chosen example.

I use street view all the time - and that is not because I am a shut-in but because I am most emphatically not - I travel a lot. London has a lot of small little hotels which are really just converted houses, and cant do much with signage becasue of planning laws. Whenever I get a new hotel I look it up in street view , which means I dont have to walk the street looking at numbers, I recognise the street as if I had already been there. 

Thats for work. For other uses I use it to see places I have travelled to before - a cottage I used to live in in Western Ireland, a lodge near Truckee I once rented, etc.. I also just drop the little man in interesting spots. 

Its instructive to go to the UK and Ireland and see the coverage there for street view:

https://maps.google.co.uk

Pick up the little man. The entire map of Ireland, England, and Wales lights up in blue. Its all covered. 95% of Scotland with the exception of the  in accessible bits of the highlands. By and large you can drop this anywhere. Its a remarkable project. 

Apple's 3D stuff doesnt yet cover London. It will never cover these villages. 

Whatever happens here, the normal users will notice this. It will be an issue. iPhone users downloading iOS 6, will complain. In fact I dont think they are going to notice very many of the improvements - I don't - but the maps are clearly inferior.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cvaldes1831 

Street View does have its uses even if you have the exact address and can read a map.
One example is being able to identify the destination address by sight ("tall yellow building") rather than try to decipher street numbers (which can often be very difficult to read while driving.
Other examples might be understanding if street parking will be easy or difficult, if there's a parking lot/garage, whether or not the road is a major thoroughway or just a side street/residential road.

This is how I use street maps.  ⬆⬆⬆

However I don't usually use it on my phone.  Typically I street view a place on my MBP or other computer before I leave.

Originally Posted by asdasd 
It will never cover these villages. 

Of course it won't. Right. Uh huh.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cvaldes1831 


Morgan Fairchild?

That made me laugh.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steven N. 


And for your uses, the 3D fly-over is FAR better than street view. Not only are Apple's images about 10x better than Googles (not kidding. It is like comparing a 1 MP camera to a 12 MP camera), you can get a much lower vantage point on Apple's 3D maps.
The question is if Apple has the will to cover the Earth with this tech.

I wonder if Apple will ever get the rights to fly over and scan any of the large Chinese cities.

Originally Posted by kotatsu 
Of course they could decline every iOS update, but how many will know to do that?

Tens of millions. I know people with their iPod touches still on 1.1.5. They buy a new one because they think they can't get apps.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tallest Skil 

 

Tens of millions. I know people with their iPod touches still on 1.1.5. They buy a new one because they think they can't get apps.

Since iOS5 updates are over the air and users are prompted to install them, so it will take a conscious user decision to decline future updates.

Quote:

Originally Posted by quesadilla5 


Oh the humanity! Is it really so hard for people who want google services to open a browser on their mobile device and type http://maps.google.com or http://www.youtube.com?
You know you can do that right? Right? You might think that would make your's and others' hyperbole about street view completely irrelevant. You want to keep using Google, keep using Google. No one is stopping you. I'm using iOS6 right now and have no problem at all using their web pages.
You can do the same with Bing maps, by the way, and there are also many, many mapping apps in the App Store. AND with the web-based ones you can even install a shortcut to the web page right on your home screen.

There's no street view when using Google Maps through mobile safari.

Also web apps are slow and clunky to use, and no substitute for a dedicated application.

Era we might as well print out maps, or buy them. Time to party like it's 1999