Apple Maps vans to begin collecting data in France, Sweden in August
The Apple Maps vans currently on reconnaissance trips to collect street-level data will be coming to France and Sweden for the first time in August, in addition to touring areas in the U.S., England, and Ireland, Apple revealed on Monday.
Vehicles surveying France will initially be touring regions around Paris and the Ile-de-France, such as Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, and Val-de-Marne, the company's website indicated. Swedish vans will be visiting multiple regions in Stockholm County, as well as the city of Malmo.
In the U.S. Apple will be touring numerous cities and counties, spread across states such as California, Florida, Massachusetts, New York, Texas, and Washington.
So far, the exact purpose for the new data is unknown beyond it being used in future versions of Maps. Some have speculated Apple is preparing to offer its own equivalent to Street View, a popular feature of Google Maps that lets users see 360-degree, eye-level previews of many locations. It's also possible the data could be used to improve the 3D Flyover feature.
Apple Maps will receive a major update in this fall's iOS 9, with features like en-route traffic avoidance and the return of public transit directions. Any Street View-like option is unlikely to be included however, unless Apple is preparing a later surprise announcement and can build out image databases in a short amount of time. The company does sometimes make such announcements, for instance if a planned feature is dependent on unreleased hardware.
Vehicles surveying France will initially be touring regions around Paris and the Ile-de-France, such as Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, and Val-de-Marne, the company's website indicated. Swedish vans will be visiting multiple regions in Stockholm County, as well as the city of Malmo.
In the U.S. Apple will be touring numerous cities and counties, spread across states such as California, Florida, Massachusetts, New York, Texas, and Washington.
So far, the exact purpose for the new data is unknown beyond it being used in future versions of Maps. Some have speculated Apple is preparing to offer its own equivalent to Street View, a popular feature of Google Maps that lets users see 360-degree, eye-level previews of many locations. It's also possible the data could be used to improve the 3D Flyover feature.
Apple Maps will receive a major update in this fall's iOS 9, with features like en-route traffic avoidance and the return of public transit directions. Any Street View-like option is unlikely to be included however, unless Apple is preparing a later surprise announcement and can build out image databases in a short amount of time. The company does sometimes make such announcements, for instance if a planned feature is dependent on unreleased hardware.
Comments
Paris seems to be such an unusual city because tourists tend to have (repeatably) bad service or never have that experience at all.
Here's one Trip Advisor comment inquiring as to what they could have done wrong and than many pages of people with and without such an experience.
Personally, I've never had an overwhelmingly bad experience in any country I've visited, but that could be for other reasons (which I won't go into on this public forum). That said, I am in no discounting your experiences as untruthful or even as atypical. In fact, I would think my experiences are likely atypical.
PS: Speaking of the French, this weekend I rewatched Amelie. Such a sweet movie. Big fan of Jean-Pierre Jennet.
That's good, they are doing France. Asking for directions in Paris isn't a pleasant experience most times, unless you are lucky enough to meet a foreigner. This not said out of any malice towards the French, simply personal experience. Anywhere else in France is fine but those folks in Paris sure seem to have a strange attitude to any one unable to speak French.
When I worked in France the standing joke with my colleagues was that the rest of France would celebrate if Paris was nuked off the face of the earth. They always said that there are two sorts of Frenchmen. Those who live in France and those who live in Paris.
I agree. Same goes to a lesser extent in Quebec and Montreal in Canada.
Allez les bleus...
This is good news, Apple can't do more mapping fast enough. I hope they *ahem* push the pedal to the metal and keep it up. The better Apple maps get, the more pressure Google maps feels to better their product. We as consumers wind up with two solid choices at the end of the day.
I overtook a grey Mercedes van with 'Apple Maps' written on the side of it as I drove along the M25 this morning in UK.
The gear on top was covered in a wildly flapping, loosely tied on tarpaulin ... Looked like it was going to fly off the top of it, hence my overtaking manoeuvre... where I noticed the Apple Maps writing.
I agree, an I'd argue that they've been doing it far too slowly.
I overtook a grey Mercedes van with 'Apple Maps' written on the side of it as I drove along the M25 this morning in UK.
I passed it too. It was driving quite slowly, as if it was recording but all the sensors were covered up - maybe just a forward facing camera was in operation.
I agree, an I'd argue that they've been doing it far too slowly.
You wouldn't argue with me about that. I'm sticking with it, but it is very frustrating sometimes.I don't understand if it's a search problem not finding things, of if there's nothing there to find. I don't know how the database gets updated/maintained, but it seems like retailers, especially chain stores and restaurants, should feed the database with x,y coordinates of locations. They're the ones losing money when people settled for McDonalds because they didn't know In-n-Out was 4 blocks away.
Put it this way: they'll have a completely updated map of the 2015 roads in 2020, and you'll have that to look forward to.
All I'm asking for in 2015 is that when I do a search for something that it doesn't first assume that I'm looking for something in another state or even country that is thousands of miles away when there is a local result that I feel it should consider to be more relevant.
You'r right, I forgot the wonderfully friendly Quebecois ..
I agree, I hope Apple get Siri to use a bit more 'local AI savvy' too. Sarasota seems to be plagued with street names Siri simply cannot fathom. Bee Ridge Road throws her completely for example. She assumes the letter 'B'. Her AI should be able to take into account that B and Bee are possibilities in a town with a major road named Bee Ridge Road.