Apple Maps vans adds Spain, three U.S. states to list of survey locations
In an update to the Apple Maps webpage on Friday, Apple announced its camera- and sensor-laden mapping vans will hit the streets of Spain and a trio of U.S. states this month.
According to the Apple Maps vehicles webpage, Apple began surveying operations in Spain on Monday, focusing on the Biscay province.
Mapping vans equipped with multiple high-resolution cameras, LiDAR arrays, GPS, distance measuring machinery and other advanced hardware are scheduled to gather information in Arratia-Nerbioi, Busturialdea, Durangaldea, Enkarterri, Greater Bilbao, Lea Artibai and Uribe-Kosta through Aug. 13.
In the U.S., July marks the start to Maps vehicle operations in New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. Apple is also moving into new areas in Arizona, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington.
In the newly added states, Apple mapping vans will be cruising the streets of the following cities:
Apple's mapping vans were first spotted in the San Francisco Bay Area in early 2015. At the time, some theorized the vehicles were part of Apple's autonomous vehicle program, Project Titan. The company attempted to dispel those rumors by publishing the Apple Maps vehicle webpage in June of that year, later labeling the vans with "Apple Maps" indicia, but speculation that data will be applied to self-driving car systems persists.
How Apple intends to use the imaging data in Apple Maps has yet to be revealed, though it is assumed the company is preparing its own version of Google's Street View technology. Alternatively, the information might be used to improve Apple's 3D Flyover feature, perhaps employing augmented reality tools powered by the forthcoming ARKit platform.
According to the Apple Maps vehicles webpage, Apple began surveying operations in Spain on Monday, focusing on the Biscay province.
Mapping vans equipped with multiple high-resolution cameras, LiDAR arrays, GPS, distance measuring machinery and other advanced hardware are scheduled to gather information in Arratia-Nerbioi, Busturialdea, Durangaldea, Enkarterri, Greater Bilbao, Lea Artibai and Uribe-Kosta through Aug. 13.
In the U.S., July marks the start to Maps vehicle operations in New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. Apple is also moving into new areas in Arizona, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington.
In the newly added states, Apple mapping vans will be cruising the streets of the following cities:
- New Hampshire - Carroll County, Cos County, Grafton County
- Rhode Island - Bristol County, Kent County, Newport County, Providence County, Washington County
- Vermont - Addison County, Caledonia County, Chittenden County, Essex County, Franklin County, Grand Isle County, Lamoille County, Orange County, Orleans County, Washington County
Apple's mapping vans were first spotted in the San Francisco Bay Area in early 2015. At the time, some theorized the vehicles were part of Apple's autonomous vehicle program, Project Titan. The company attempted to dispel those rumors by publishing the Apple Maps vehicle webpage in June of that year, later labeling the vans with "Apple Maps" indicia, but speculation that data will be applied to self-driving car systems persists.
How Apple intends to use the imaging data in Apple Maps has yet to be revealed, though it is assumed the company is preparing its own version of Google's Street View technology. Alternatively, the information might be used to improve Apple's 3D Flyover feature, perhaps employing augmented reality tools powered by the forthcoming ARKit platform.
Comments
The ARKit Idea is an Interesting One…
If you search for ARKit on YouTube, you will see some amazing examples!
Placing and manipulating virtual objects in a real scene is a given...
...but, it appears that the tech exists to;
Now you have a virtual scene where the real objects can be manipulated and can interact with the virtual objects.
Say, you want to add some virtual furniture to a room but need to rearrange the real furniture to make space...
There are examples of animating, say, a virtual dancer... What if you could create a vitural representation of a person, include it in the scene and manipulate and animate it?
A coworker saw it outside, took a picture, sent a few of us a text and a couple of us went out to take a look.
I was was hoping to talk to the guy but he was already gone when my shift ended shortly after. I doubt I would have found out much but it may have been interesting.
Much more capabilities than just 3D [drive by] image capture for Maps -- with ARKit * Apple Developers can do much, much more.
For example, from less than a year ago (before ARKit):
Here's a 3rd-party 3D Sensor attached to an iPad, using the iPad camera to capture and manipulate AR images
My first thought was that Apple should buy this Occipital **
And another example:
* When iOS 1 is released this fall, there will be more than 1 billion iDevices capable of manipulating 3D AR images
** As it turns out, Apple bought PrimeSense, back in 2013 -- the company that developed the 3D Sensor hardware
Have you seen [user-controlled] 3D Flyover with AR in iOS 11?
So, this is using the iDevice camera and motion sensor to navigate and display virtual waypoints on a 3D arial map.
Consider that Apple's arial maps data already has that capability. I suspect that when Apple adds StreetView to Maps they will add similar capability to iDevices including CarPlay and AppleTV.
OK, so far?
That's exterior navigation enhanced by AR.
What about interior navigation -- within a mall... within a campus... within a museum... within a burning building...
Apple acquired WiFiSLAM in 2013 for their expertise in precise interior mapping. You can do it with a simple walk-thru with an iPhone -- map through walls floors etc.
Now, what about internal mapping of the body -- AR combined with body scan data -- navigating the body organs looking for anomalies?
It's all about navigation!
With AR -- it's about being there without going there!
...and for 1 billion Apple iDevice owners -- the best AR Navigator is the one you have with you.
Then you jump to "internal mapping of the body"? Let's try to get a reasonable macro-sized example working for consumers before we jump into something on a microscopic level in the medical field.
I predict that Apple will provide an AR tour of the new campus -- inside and out to showcase what can be done with iDevices and ARKit -- and it will blow us away!
You can do both -- capture a video with real elements and AR elements then edit it as you please. Here's one I made 4 years ago:
Obviously, there was no ARKit available 4 years ago -- it has been available only 32 days.
I think what you are missing:
Like a video, or a game -- VR can only display what an editor or programmer has predetermined what you see.
AR is Ad Hoc -- given what is available, you determine what you see.
2) Why would I want ARKit to add unnatural elements to a video over Apple allowing me to move through a user-controlled, 3D video or image montage of, say, Apple Campus walkways or any other open area, not unlike StreetView?
Well, you could:
1) spin around until the camera is pointed in the direction of interest -- then move your iPhone away and back to navigate to the desired location
2) or with your fingers rotate the map -- then drag/zoom to the desired location
I suspect that in CarPlay, Apple will optionally display a 3D map or Hybrid view with AR POI flags displayed as they come into range. The flags could show traffic, distance, ETA, etc. based on your current driving progress. In addition you could apply a filter to display only POIs that are currently of interest to you.
Currently FlyOver and StreetView are dissimilar -- but they need not be. They could be variations on a theme -- each augmenting the other to provide you with a more complete perspective of what you are seeing.
Here's a video made 4 years ago showing the Westin hotel across from the Tuileries Garden. This uses both Flyover and StreetView. Note that StreetView is more realistic (and likely, more dated) -- but Flyover, while less realistic, can take you to places where StreetView can't go -- into the Tuileries Garden and the inner courtyards of the hotel. It isn't shown in this video, but with Flyover you can position yourself to look up the Rue de Rivoli to see the Eiffel Tower, and such.
I've seen concept videos that show just that!
Watch the video below. In the first section, you are selecting furniture from a catalog. Sure, some programmer has digitized 3D images of various furniture pieces -- that's the pre determined part.
But you decide what to place, it's orientation and where to place it -- that's the ad hoc part. You can resize it, place it in your office, on the front lawn, on your kitchen table, in the bed of your truck...
You are in charge of manipulating whatever objects are available in ways and places unknown to the programmer.
You are not in charge of the augmentation. The elements in every single video added by a developer. That's akin to saying that a video game has no programmer because you can move the character on the screen as you see fit.
I guess I can’t convince you that there is value to being able to view and manipulate things that don’t exist. I have to wonder if Apple Park would have ever been built if people couldn’t visualize something that didn’t exist (thru artist renderings and models).
Actually, I (the user) am in charge of the augmentation – I can take a picture of, say, the family sitting around a table I built and put in the garage, back yard, neighbor’s yard, the street... or not... my choice... I can even film the processes If I chose!
Mmm, correct me if I’m wrong, but it occurs to me that you’ve never experienced AR. The actual experince is quite different than watching videos of AR.