Nonsense. Street View is an incredibly useful tool to see what an area you're not familiar with actually looks like from human eye level. Even if Apple ever manage to get (and maintain) aerial views for every city, town, and village in the world, they will only be of use when we all have jet packs. (or helicopters)
Street View is invaluable. Aerial views are fluff.
Why is it that people think that simply repeating an erroneous argument will somehow make it come true?
You see, I know how to read a map. If I see a little dot on the map showing my location and know the address I'm going to, I can get there. I don't need to see pictures of the city to tell me where I am. Furthermore, the aerial view is a low enough level to be just as readily identifiable as the street level view in most cases - see the examples someone else provided.
Not to be contrary, but I use Street View because I can't travel to many places I find interesting. For example, I used street view to walk around ground zero in Hiroshima, see what a particular neighborhood in Nova Scotia was like, and do other virtual sightseeing on my iMac. For GPS I love my simple Tomtom that attaches to my windshield with a sucker. I use some things because I already own them and others because they are easy.
I hope Apple's entry into the mapping arena makes Google work harder to keep their dominance which will cause Apple to work harder to give the iDevice owners a top-notch experience. It will be win-win.
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.
Nonsense. Street View is an incredibly useful tool to see what an area you're not familiar with actually looks like from human eye level. Even if Apple ever manage to get (and maintain) aerial views for every city, town, and village in the world, they will only be of use when we all have jet packs. (or helicopters)
Street View is invaluable. Aerial views are fluff.
I have talked to one person that uses street view about once per year to actually find something. It is the most interesting (though completely worthless) aspect of Google maps. You keep repeating the jet pack argument of the Google worshipers in the hope if you repeat it often enough, it will become true.
Street view - for those who can't read maps... It's quite a sign of our times that people think that they can't find a place without seeing exactly what the front looks like despite having the address and turn-by-turn directions. If you really can't find a place with the address and GPS you should really just hire someone to drive you around...
I tried street view dozens and dozens of times and it's rarely done squat for me. For example, I tried to find a dentist in mid-town Arlington TX. I had the address but thought it'd be nice to know what the marquee looked like since I was in completely unknown territory so I went to street view and went to the address... Yeah, nothing but a blob of blur that didn't help anything and I live in a pretty decently sized city where the street view shouldn't be useless. I don't know how many times I've gone to street view hoping to see something that might really be helpful but every single time, without fail, I end up back to just using GPS because it doesn't matter what the front looks like - the address is the address.
I fear for the day when no one knows how to use a map...
Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Flyover made using normal satellite imagery combined with LIDAR? Or something like that aka photogrammetry aka some of the techniques used in the first Matrix.
That is, the LIDAR (or something similar) generates the 3D polygons and then the sat imagery is mapped onto that.
Ah well, y'all probably know that already.
Oh, and can someone clean up all the references and quoting of the weird poster? That was pretty much a kamikaze job so let's purge the fluff.
I'm trying to install iOS6 Beta4 over Beta3 (legit Developer account etc) and it doesn't seem to work. Will try iTunes.
... Same with transit. Most cities don't have it and those that do are frequently wrong on the Google routing.
I think there is an attitude among some that if Google does it, it must be good. Unfortunately, the reality is quite different. Most of what Google does is mediocre at best, and, yes, transit directions from Google don't even live up to mediocre.
If there were one thousand cities at a million per you'd be at a billion people. You're 9 peeps per square-mile? 35mil CO2 emitters? Hey, sorry they got 1 city but overstating the digits won't help the cause.
What am I missing? Perhaps the placement of the /s?
Thousands is an exaggeration, but major Canadian cities are in general denser than American cities... American ones tend to be very sprawled out. In other words Apple could hit more customers per area of coverage in Canada than the states. That being said I'm not holding my breath for more Canadian being done... maybe they'll add Vancouver but I bet that'll be it for a while.
It'd be awesome if AI's forum software could detect a banned troll's past handles and automatically display them.
Well, it automatically catches their first few posts and calls it spam, so that's pretty close.
Originally Posted by Rogifan
And people go on about Apple fanboys. God if I hear one more fandroid go on about how "buttery smooth" their device is I'll vomit. It's an electronic device not a dairy product. Plus iOS devices have been "buttery smooth" all along so big frigging deal.
Worst part is, it's not even smooth at all! Apparently these people have never had butter that didn't have hunks of curd floating in it, because they don't seem to know what 'smooth' means.
Street view - for those who can't read maps... It's quite a sign of our times that people think that they can't find a place without seeing exactly what the front looks like despite having the address and turn-by-turn directions. If you really can't find a place with the address and GPS you should really just hire someone to drive you around...
I tried street view dozens and dozens of times and it's rarely done squat for me. For example, I tried to find a dentist in mid-town Arlington TX. I had the address but thought it'd be nice to know what the marquee looked like since I was in completely unknown territory so I went to street view and went to the address... Yeah, nothing but a blob of blur that didn't help anything and I live in a pretty decently sized city where the street view shouldn't be useless. I don't know how many times I've gone to street view hoping to see something that might really be helpful but every single time, without fail, I end up back to just using GPS because it doesn't matter what the front looks like - the address is the address.
I fear for the day when no one knows how to use a map...
I use Street View often to gauge what an area is like before I go there, which is particularly useful for restaurants. If the area looks dodgy, then I don't go. It's a lot easier to do that on street view than to actual travel there only to realise too late that it's a graffiti covered hell hole full of criminals.
Also useful for house hunting, and for getting a visual idea of an area you don't know when you're low on time and don't want to get lost.
If people didn't use it, Google wouldn't have spent so much time and money photographing the world.
Now find a shop, any shop, I don't mind which, from a town or village, not a city, in the UK (as I live there). You'll see it from human eye level in street view. Useful.
Now show me the same in either Google or Apple's jetpack mode.
Go on, I dare you.
Obviously I cannot take the dare... As London is not 3D-mapped yet, so I strongly suspect that no smaller towns or villages have been 3D mapped. But that's an ephemeral advantage.
Now I have a challenge for you and the [Google] iOS Maps app:
There is this small village, of some note, that hosted an historic event in 1984 in the auditorium of a small college campus. With the [Google] iOS Maps app show me any view of the front or side of that building?
The village: Cupertino, CA
The Event: The 1984 introduction of the Macintosh Computer
The Location: Flint Center Auditorium on the Campus of De Anza College
Simple, Huh?
Here's what I got on my iPad with iOS 5 (Click images to enlarge):
iOS 5 Maps Search Results
Oops, no street View... and no pin -- apparently Google Maps data doesn't know about Flint Center???
iOS 5 Maps Zoom to Find Flint Auditorium
Arrow highlights Auditorium as no pin from search and labels are hard to read
iOS 5 Maps Search for Cupertino
Maybe we'll have better luck finding a Street View if we start in downtown Cupertino
iOS 5 Maps Cupertino Street View
The Arrow indicates where Flint Auditorium is supposed to show up... after 25 taps to move the view forward I stopped, as I couldn't figure out where I was and no big buildings resembling the auditorium appeared on the left.
iOS 6 Maps Search Results
No street View either
iOS 6 Maps Overview Zoom
to show the whole college campus
iOS 6 Maps 3D Arial view
to show a more useful view of the whole college campus
iOS 6 Maps 3D Arial view
showing Flint Center from the rear
iOS 6 Maps 3D Arial view
showing Flint Center from the front -- Stevens Creek Blvd.
So, after a lot of time, effort and frustration, I was able to get nothing of use with iOS 5 maps... pure drudgery.
But, with iOS 6 maps I was able to quickly find what I wanted and see what it looks like... it was interesting and fun!
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.
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):
you get the 2D BirdsEye Overhead View
enable 3D and you get a perspective view of the 2D data
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).
Quote:
"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."
This is a great idea... Really! And it'd be the best Leggo set ever!
Some final thoughts:
If Arial View is of such little value -- why was Google in such a big rush to upstage Apple with the Google Arial View?
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
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:
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.
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:
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.
I'm the one doing most of the cherry picking but it's only because there aren't a lot of 3D cities available on iOS 6 maps yet.
I'm also trying to illustrate that there is a valid use for another perspective somewhere between overhead view and street view.
I use street view maybe three times a year and when I need it -- it's invaluable!
However, there are some countries, like the US, where street view is not available everywhere. So, what do you do when street view is unavailable?
You can do a straight overhead view -- but it is difficult to get the info you need!
Arial view, even with 2D data only, provides an additional way to view a map -- and it can be very useful.
That's what I'm trying to illustrate.
Even where street view exists it provides nothing when the images are taken at street level and the area of interest is below street level -- as in Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon, etc.
Again, street view has its uses -- for some more than others... My point is that 3D, or even 2D Arial views are also useful in some cases... That's why Google is scrambling to implement it.
It should not be an issue of either/or... rather, overhead view, Arial view, street view -- you pick what works for you in a given situation.
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.
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.
Another hugely important point which is being conveniently omitted by the in favour of jetpack mode - those on iPhone 4s and iPhone 3GSs won't get jetpack mode at all. They'll lose street view and have it replaced by..... Absolutely nothing.
Of course they could decline every iOS update, but how many will know to do that? How many will just click the update button, as we're all trained to do for security reasons, and then a few days or weeks later notice that they've lost something really useful.
Comments
Why is it that people think that simply repeating an erroneous argument will somehow make it come true?
You see, I know how to read a map. If I see a little dot on the map showing my location and know the address I'm going to, I can get there. I don't need to see pictures of the city to tell me where I am. Furthermore, the aerial view is a low enough level to be just as readily identifiable as the street level view in most cases - see the examples someone else provided.
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 have talked to one person that uses street view about once per year to actually find something. It is the most interesting (though completely worthless) aspect of Google maps. You keep repeating the jet pack argument of the Google worshipers in the hope if you repeat it often enough, it will become true.
Street view - for those who can't read maps... It's quite a sign of our times that people think that they can't find a place without seeing exactly what the front looks like despite having the address and turn-by-turn directions. If you really can't find a place with the address and GPS you should really just hire someone to drive you around...
I tried street view dozens and dozens of times and it's rarely done squat for me. For example, I tried to find a dentist in mid-town Arlington TX. I had the address but thought it'd be nice to know what the marquee looked like since I was in completely unknown territory so I went to street view and went to the address... Yeah, nothing but a blob of blur that didn't help anything and I live in a pretty decently sized city where the street view shouldn't be useless. I don't know how many times I've gone to street view hoping to see something that might really be helpful but every single time, without fail, I end up back to just using GPS because it doesn't matter what the front looks like - the address is the address.
I fear for the day when no one knows how to use a map...
That is, the LIDAR (or something similar) generates the 3D polygons and then the sat imagery is mapped onto that.
Ah well, y'all probably know that already.
Oh, and can someone clean up all the references and quoting of the weird poster? That was pretty much a kamikaze job so let's purge the fluff.
I'm trying to install iOS6 Beta4 over Beta3 (legit Developer account etc) and it doesn't seem to work. Will try iTunes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven N.
... Same with transit. Most cities don't have it and those that do are frequently wrong on the Google routing.
I think there is an attitude among some that if Google does it, it must be good. Unfortunately, the reality is quite different. Most of what Google does is mediocre at best, and, yes, transit directions from Google don't even live up to mediocre.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChristophB
Densely populated...
Canada....
Cities.....
THOUSANDS!?
If there were one thousand cities at a million per you'd be at a billion people. You're 9 peeps per square-mile? 35mil CO2 emitters? Hey, sorry they got 1 city but overstating the digits won't help the cause.
What am I missing? Perhaps the placement of the /s?
Thousands is an exaggeration, but major Canadian cities are in general denser than American cities... American ones tend to be very sprawled out. In other words Apple could hit more customers per area of coverage in Canada than the states. That being said I'm not holding my breath for more Canadian being done... maybe they'll add Vancouver but I bet that'll be it for a while.
Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton
It'd be awesome if AI's forum software could detect a banned troll's past handles and automatically display them.
Well, it automatically catches their first few posts and calls it spam, so that's pretty close.
Originally Posted by Rogifan
And people go on about Apple fanboys. God if I hear one more fandroid go on about how "buttery smooth" their device is I'll vomit. It's an electronic device not a dairy product. Plus iOS devices have been "buttery smooth" all along so big frigging deal.
Worst part is, it's not even smooth at all! Apparently these people have never had butter that didn't have hunks of curd floating in it, because they don't seem to know what 'smooth' means.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigmc6000
Street view - for those who can't read maps... It's quite a sign of our times that people think that they can't find a place without seeing exactly what the front looks like despite having the address and turn-by-turn directions. If you really can't find a place with the address and GPS you should really just hire someone to drive you around...
I tried street view dozens and dozens of times and it's rarely done squat for me. For example, I tried to find a dentist in mid-town Arlington TX. I had the address but thought it'd be nice to know what the marquee looked like since I was in completely unknown territory so I went to street view and went to the address... Yeah, nothing but a blob of blur that didn't help anything and I live in a pretty decently sized city where the street view shouldn't be useless. I don't know how many times I've gone to street view hoping to see something that might really be helpful but every single time, without fail, I end up back to just using GPS because it doesn't matter what the front looks like - the address is the address.
I fear for the day when no one knows how to use a map...
I use Street View often to gauge what an area is like before I go there, which is particularly useful for restaurants. If the area looks dodgy, then I don't go. It's a lot easier to do that on street view than to actual travel there only to realise too late that it's a graffiti covered hell hole full of criminals.
Also useful for house hunting, and for getting a visual idea of an area you don't know when you're low on time and don't want to get lost.
If people didn't use it, Google wouldn't have spent so much time and money photographing the world.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kotatsu
That's a nice extreme example of cherry picking.
Now find a shop, any shop, I don't mind which, from a town or village, not a city, in the UK (as I live there). You'll see it from human eye level in street view. Useful.
Now show me the same in either Google or Apple's jetpack mode.
Go on, I dare you.
Obviously I cannot take the dare... As London is not 3D-mapped yet, so I strongly suspect that no smaller towns or villages have been 3D mapped. But that's an ephemeral advantage.
Now I have a challenge for you and the [Google] iOS Maps app:
There is this small village, of some note, that hosted an historic event in 1984 in the auditorium of a small college campus. With the [Google] iOS Maps app show me any view of the front or side of that building?
The village: Cupertino, CA
The Event: The 1984 introduction of the Macintosh Computer
The Location: Flint Center Auditorium on the Campus of De Anza College
Simple, Huh?
Here's what I got on my iPad with iOS 5 (Click images to enlarge):
iOS 5 Maps Search Results
Oops, no street View... and no pin -- apparently Google Maps data doesn't know about Flint Center???
iOS 5 Maps Zoom to Find Flint Auditorium
Arrow highlights Auditorium as no pin from search and labels are hard to read
iOS 5 Maps Search for Cupertino
Maybe we'll have better luck finding a Street View if we start in downtown Cupertino
iOS 5 Maps Cupertino Street View
The Arrow indicates where Flint Auditorium is supposed to show up... after 25 taps to move the view forward I stopped, as I couldn't figure out where I was and no big buildings resembling the auditorium appeared on the left.
iOS 6 Maps Search Results
No street View either
iOS 6 Maps Overview Zoom
to show the whole college campus
iOS 6 Maps 3D Arial view
to show a more useful view of the whole college campus
iOS 6 Maps 3D Arial view
showing Flint Center from the rear
iOS 6 Maps 3D Arial view
showing Flint Center from the front -- Stevens Creek Blvd.
So, after a lot of time, effort and frustration, I was able to get nothing of use with iOS 5 maps... pure drudgery.
But, with iOS 6 maps I was able to quickly find what I wanted and see what it looks like... it was interesting and fun!
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.
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):
you get the 2D BirdsEye Overhead View
enable 3D and you get a perspective view of the 2D data
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).
Quote:
"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."
This is a great idea... Really! And it'd be the best Leggo set ever!
Some final thoughts:
If Arial View is of such little value -- why was Google in such a big rush to upstage Apple with the Google Arial View?
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
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.
I'm the one doing most of the cherry picking but it's only because there aren't a lot of 3D cities available on iOS 6 maps yet.
I'm also trying to illustrate that there is a valid use for another perspective somewhere between overhead view and street view.
I use street view maybe three times a year and when I need it -- it's invaluable!
However, there are some countries, like the US, where street view is not available everywhere. So, what do you do when street view is unavailable?
You can do a straight overhead view -- but it is difficult to get the info you need!
Arial view, even with 2D data only, provides an additional way to view a map -- and it can be very useful.
That's what I'm trying to illustrate.
Even where street view exists it provides nothing when the images are taken at street level and the area of interest is below street level -- as in Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon, etc.
Again, street view has its uses -- for some more than others... My point is that 3D, or even 2D Arial views are also useful in some cases... That's why Google is scrambling to implement it.
It should not be an issue of either/or... rather, overhead view, Arial view, street view -- you pick what works for you in a given situation.
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.
Of course they could decline every iOS update, but how many will know to do that? How many will just click the update button, as we're all trained to do for security reasons, and then a few days or weeks later notice that they've lost something really useful.
This may be Apple's biggest mis-step to date.