Apple's iOS 6 3D Flyovers aim to be more helpful, less creepy than Google Street View

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  • Reply 41 of 171


    sorry for the dumb posts... just wanted to stop loading that excessively long article and all those images.

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  • Reply 42 of 171
    twoseetwosee Posts: 58member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ghostface147 View Post



    Sorry, I still think street view is much more useful.




    I wouldn't necessarily say "much" more useful, but i agree, streetview is a nice feature to have. With that being said, this is Version 1 of their mapping. I'm sure they will improve over time, and possibly include a "street-view" like alternative. Google Maps didn't have it available on day 1 either. Flyover does look good so far in images. Cant wait to see it in real life use.

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  • Reply 43 of 171
    mazda 3smazda 3s Posts: 1,613member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AaronJ View Post


     


    Don't you remember where you just had lunch a few days ago?  If the shop was a few doors down, just go back to that block.


     


    What am I missing?



    Are you really that daft?


     


    He said that the restaraunt was a couple of doors down, not that it was a couple doors down from your current location.


     


    For example, he takes the subway 5 miles downtown, happens to walk by a place that catches his eye on the way to his lunch spot. Once he gets back home/to work, he recalls the place he walked by, but can't remember its name. He pull up Google Street View on his phone, plugs in the address of the place he had lunch at. Then he backtracks a few steps using the arrows to land right at the storefront he walked by.


     


    It's becoming increasingly annoying to hear people downplay the importance of Street View. Google automatically = evil to them, so there's no getting through to these people.

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  • Reply 44 of 171
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by antkm1 View Post


    I don't see anything wrong with Street View from a privacy standpoint.  ...



     


    No one with even half a brain ever did.  


     


    The whole thing was a classic tempest in a teapot manufactured by "sensitive" people.  You know, the kind of folks that don't want you to "judge them" and are certain that you need to ask permission to take their picture on a public street and will "get in your face" if you don't?  The fact that this is pure fantasy and a complete reversal of basic privacy laws and statutes that go back for at least a hundred years seemingly has no bearing on the matter.  


     


    There is absolutely no rational reason even for blurring faces and licence plates (they didn't do it originally of course), but irrationality, sensitivity, and a gigantic sense of self-entitlement wins against logic, reason, and common sense every time nowadays it seems.  


     


    Interestingly, the most likely "cure" for Flyover view, would be to turn it into a sort of semi-street view by means of simply raising the detail level of the models and skins.  The best way to do this would be to send tiny little drones down every street in a given city at about second floor level taking pictures and scanning for more mesh detail.  


     


    This very practical and very useful thing will absolutely never happen however because of these same idiotic "privacy advocates."   I put that in quotes because what they are actually protecting is an imaginary privacy that they never had in the first place.  Real privacy advocates wouldn't care a fig about this sort of nonsense issue. 

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  • Reply 45 of 171


    While 3D Flyovers are impressive, I have to remark a feature of StreetView that I would miss: the ability to literally walk into some street shops. For example, see http://goo.gl/maps/2YJCh. Click on the double '>>' on the floor and you get to walk in and see what the shop looks like. 

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  • Reply 46 of 171
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member


    The performance is pretty bad even on an iPad 3, I bet it would be great on the Mac though, if Apple released a Maps app for OS X.

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  • Reply 47 of 171

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by twosee View Post




    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ghostface147 View Post



    Sorry, I still think street view is much more useful.




    I wouldn't necessarily say "much" more useful, but i agree, streetview is a nice feature to have. With that being said, this is Version 1 of their mapping. I'm sure they will improve over time, and possibly include a "street-view" like alternative. Google Maps didn't have it available on day 1 either. Flyover does look good so far in images. Cant wait to see it in real life use.



     


     


    They are making some nice refinements in iOS Maps.  If you are in FlyOver view of a city that is spread out, like LA, the 3D-mapped areas are shown in color, and the 2D-mapped areas are shown in gray -- it's subtle, but useful:


     


     


     


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  • Reply 48 of 171
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Mazda 3s View Post


    ...  It's becoming increasingly annoying to hear people downplay the importance of Street View. Google automatically = evil to them, so there's no getting through to these people.



     


    I don't see a conflict here.  StreetView is indeed very, very useful, but Google is pretty much automatically "evil" as well.  


     


    This is what I find most disappointing actually.  I will not use anything from Google unless I absolutely have to and purposely try to keep their applications off of my phone and all of my computers and mobile devices.  So street view (which is useful) is about to disappear for people like me.  


     


    Living morally and doing the right thing are far far more important than a simple inconvenience IMO.  In my world, there is no way to rationalise using Google Maps for street view "because you miss it" when you know you are dealing with a company that exists almost entirely to screw you over.  I don't understand how anyone could live with themselves after doing that.  It's not like anyone is going to die without street view.  

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  • Reply 49 of 171
    normmnormm Posts: 653member
    booga wrote: »
    Spin it how you want, but working in NYC I can tell you that iOS 6's maps app is way, way less useful than iOS 5. It will be a dramatic downgrade. No subway directions, no street view so you know what the storefront looks like... GPS doesn't work great in the city anyway... I expect Apple to have a PR nightmare on its hands next month...

    As long as a free Google app with streetview is available, I don't see this as much of a PR issue.
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  • Reply 50 of 171
    gqbgqb Posts: 1,934member


    I rarely use Street View because I hardly use an old-style 'PC' any more, and definately dont use one around the time I need these types of directions.


    Poking a mouse clumsily around fuzzy pictures is fun, but rarely useful.


     


    Want to know what's REALLY useful?


    Try walking around a strage area with no orientation as to where you are in a complicated city like Istanbul or a concrete downtown canyon. Fly-over would be a god-send to me in those situations allowing me to get above the buildings, see the landmarks and quickly orient myself.


     


    I don't need street view to read a street address or a business sign. I have eyes.

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  • Reply 51 of 171
    gqbgqb Posts: 1,934member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post


     


    There is absolutely no rational reason even for blurring faces and licence plates (they didn't do it originally of course), but irrationality, sensitivity, and a gigantic sense of self-entitlement wins against logic, reason, and common sense every time nowadays it seems.  ...


     


    This very practical and very useful thing will absolutely never happen however because of these same idiotic "privacy advocates."   I put that in quotes because what they are actually protecting is an imaginary privacy that they never had in the first place.  Real privacy advocates wouldn't care a fig about this sort of nonsense issue. 



    Good lord... you sound like Eric Schmidt raving about how people should just 'get over' the idea of privacy.


    Let me guess... you're 20 years old and tweet photos of all your meals too.

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  • Reply 52 of 171
    antkm1antkm1 Posts: 1,441member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ruckerz View Post


    While 3D Flyovers are impressive, I have to remark a feature of StreetView that I would miss: the ability to literally walk into some street shops. For example, see http://goo.gl/maps/2YJCh. Click on the double '>>' on the floor and you get to walk in and see what the shop looks like. 



    this is pretty AWESOME.  I've never seen this before, but what a great feature.  Shopping malls should have this feature.  Then I'd know where the best place to park is.

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  • Reply 53 of 171
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member


    Street View data acquisition is like painting the Golden Gate Bridge - you have to keep redoing it. Google is on their third pass in my area. If Apple wanted to replicate the Street View experience they could probably collect enough imagery in about 2 years.


     


    When Bing collected their data, they hired a private contractor. I met one of the guys and had a long chat with him and looked inside his rig at all the equipment.

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  • Reply 54 of 171
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Maestro64 View Post


    I really feel bad for all you people who have to rely on a mapping program to find your way and better yet, you need pictures to know if you on the right street or in front of the right store or restaurant. Are you completely lost if your battery dies? Yeah most guys hate asking for direction, but it is not that hard to find a location, you all know streets have names and building have numbers.



    Really? How do you navigate your way? a) Pull over in your car and unfold the map, pinpoint your location, b) pull out and drive for 1 minute and pull over again to re-check... (repeat a and b over and over until you reach your destination), or if you travel with your partner, keep driving until you find town hall and head for the divorce registry? You clearly have never driven (as a non-resident) in and around Paris (or just about any other major city). Digital maps have been a major step forward since paper maps. 


     


    As for asking directions - sure, that works if there is a place to stop and there are people around and you can do so without killing anyone in the process, but its not always useful. Like when someone plus over and asks directions to a place on the other side of town - its just to damn complicated.


     


    I rarely use street-view but when I do it is very useful. It is an amazing feature. What I use most is the basic 2d version, sometimes flipping to the satellite view. It is my primary way of mapping routes at home and also of navigating in my car. I have the TomTom nav app, but google maps is my go-to app in town.I find it hard to imagine Apple thinking they can compete without streetview. 

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  • Reply 55 of 171
    mjtomlinmjtomlin Posts: 2,699member


    #1. I'm sure Google Maps will be available as a separate app.


     


    #2. Apple HAD to ditch Google Maps in order to build in turn-by-turn navigation. Google forbids licensees from using their navigation.


     


    #3. There are currently other companies creating "street view" maps, that Apple could potentially license or buy.


     


    #4. From what I gathered, Apple is opening up their maps to allow 3rd parties to add data such as miscellaneous locations, transit schedules, etc. (So someone in NYC can download subway routes and schedules from a 3rd party and have it view inside Apple's map.)

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  • Reply 56 of 171
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    Street View data acquisition is like painting the Golden Gate Bridge - you have to keep redoing it. Google is on their third pass in my area. If Apple wanted to replicate the Street View experience they could probably collect enough imagery in about 2 years.



    Exactly - it is a work in progress and there really are no shortcuts. When Street View came out (and still) there were many areas it did not cover. Apple should strike a deal with UPS and mount camera's on their trucks, just to get going, and develop from there.

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  • Reply 57 of 171
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mjtomlin View Post


    #3. There are currently other companies creating "street view" maps, that Apple could potentially license or buy.


     


    #4. From what I gathered, Apple is opening up their maps to allow 3rd parties to add data such as miscellaneous locations, transit schedules, etc. (So someone in NYC can download subway routes and schedules from a 3rd party and have it view inside Apple's map.)



    This, I think, will be the key to Apple's success in this area.

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  • Reply 58 of 171

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post




    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Mazda 3s View Post


    ...  It's becoming increasingly annoying to hear people downplay the importance of Street View. Google automatically = evil to them, so there's no getting through to these people.



     


    I don't see a conflict here.  StreetView is indeed very, very useful, but Google is pretty much automatically "evil" as well.  


     


    This is what I find most disappointing actually.  I will not use anything from Google unless I absolutely have to and purposely try to keep their applications off of my phone and all of my computers and mobile devices.  So street view (which is useful) is about to disappear for people like me.  


     


    Living morally and doing the right thing are far far more important than a simple inconvenience IMO.  In my world, there is no way to rationalise using Google Maps for street view "because you miss it" when you know you are dealing with a company that exists almost entirely to screw you over.  I don't understand how anyone could live with themselves after doing that.  It's not like anyone is going to die without street view.  



     


    The current iOS 5 Maps is written by Apple, but uses Google's servers.  I don't know this for a fact, but I suspect that Apple does not send any data to Google other the minimal request for map segments and street views.  If true, then all Google could do is aggregate the requests for statistical purposes -- to refine their map data, provide faster access, etc.  I don't see how this could be put to "evil" use.  Though, there might be some marketing value to something like:  "70% of map requests for Disneyland, in February, come from Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin."


     


    AIR, the "evil" was associated with the "street view  trucks" because Google was caught intercepting and saving WiFi traffic as it mapped the streets.


     


    I do believe that Google is unethical.  I try to avoid using their services, where alternatives exist.  


     


    Loss of street view will mean little to me personally, as I have only used it once this year -- and that was more for entertainment than for necessity.  I tracked my grandkids vacation to canada using FindMyPhone and located their other grandfather's house (the one with the red roof) -- then used iOS 5 Maps street view to walk the block until I found the "red roof" house between two gray roof houses.  I captured the image and emailed it to my granddaughter with the message "Look Familiar?"  This really fooled her -- she thought for a moment that we had followed them up to canada.


     


    However, I do understand others need for street view -- and I think that Apple should license that capability from Google until they can get it elsewhere.

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  • Reply 59 of 171
    Dan_Dilgerdan_dilger Posts: 1,584member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    "...aim to be more helpful, less creepy than Google Street View".


     


    I don't even need to look at who wrote this - I know.



     


    Too bad, you're wrong again, as the headline was not written by the author. 

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  • Reply 60 of 171


    I anticipate Apple introducing their own version of Street View in 2013 or 2014 for iOS 7 or 8. They could call it DriveThrough or WalkThrough.

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