1) Can Apple just license Street View from Google?
2) I've hear that their C3 mapping system can mimic what Street View does but I can't see it. Can someone explain how?
3) Possibility that Apple has had unmarked vehicles doing their own Street View mapping for a couple years now?
According to the WSJ (or was it the NYT) Google delaying the launch of Street View (as well as not offering turn-by-turn navigation) was one of the main reasons Apple started looking at their own mapping solution in the first place. I really can't see Google licensing Street View after Apple drops Google Maps.
Google maps not only have street view, but it also provides driving, transit and biking routes on their maps. Very nice.
Maps isn't Google Maps. Substantial and significant components of the Maps data and infrastructure are provided by Google but the user interface is provided by Apple.
1) Can Apple just license Street View from Google?
2) I've hear that their C3 mapping system can mimic what Street View does but I can't see it. Can someone explain how?
3) Possibility that Apple has had unmarked vehicles doing their own Street View mapping for a couple years now?
Although possible this is not likely especially since Apple will likely continue to use Navteq data as used by C3 Technologies originally or use their own solution.
C3 Technologies solution captures as many as 100 images of a single object from different angles with resolutions as high as 10 cm. A 3D reconstruction is generated from a volume data set of one million LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) scans per second. The digital photography is overlayed on the 3D urban terrain map resulting from the LIDAR scanning. The street level view can be generated in the same manner as any other view. In areas without high resolution scanning satellite maps can be stretched over a digital elevation model for a sculpted landscape view.
After significantly more research I was able to discover that the C3 Technologies street views are actually provided by Navteq although Apple may have their own project.
I can not believe I am about to write this, however, if you look at Bing Maps it is far better than google maps, especially when you look at the 3D satellite images, you can spin 360 degrees around an object and see it perfectly well. The only way you can do this with google is to go to google earth, and it only shows 3D from a south facing view and it very poor image qualify compare to what Bing is showing these days. If Apple does there on thing and we all agree google maps suck and M$ has not original ideas Apple will definitely be better.
Interesting they're dropping Bing Maps. I know that Apple has the tendency to kill things but it seems MS does this way more often; could that be because they don't stand behind their products?
Interesting they're dropping Bing Maps. I know that Apple has the tendency to kill things but it seems MS does this way more often; could that be because they don't stand behind their products?
Because they probably think that something better is always going to come along, and maintaining a service that is rarely used is a waste of resources.
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
1) Can Apple just license Street View from Google?
2) I've hear that their C3 mapping system can mimic what Street View does but I can't see it. Can someone explain how?
3) Possibility that Apple has had unmarked vehicles doing their own Street View mapping for a couple years now?
According to the WSJ (or was it the NYT) Google delaying the launch of Street View (as well as not offering turn-by-turn navigation) was one of the main reasons Apple started looking at their own mapping solution in the first place. I really can't see Google licensing Street View after Apple drops Google Maps.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pt123
Google maps not only have street view, but it also provides driving, transit and biking routes on their maps. Very nice.
Maps isn't Google Maps. Substantial and significant components of the Maps data and infrastructure are provided by Google but the user interface is provided by Apple.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
1) Can Apple just license Street View from Google?
2) I've hear that their C3 mapping system can mimic what Street View does but I can't see it. Can someone explain how?
3) Possibility that Apple has had unmarked vehicles doing their own Street View mapping for a couple years now?
Although possible this is not likely especially since Apple will likely continue to use Navteq data as used by C3 Technologies originally or use their own solution.
C3 Technologies solution captures as many as 100 images of a single object from different angles with resolutions as high as 10 cm. A 3D reconstruction is generated from a volume data set of one million LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) scans per second. The digital photography is overlayed on the 3D urban terrain map resulting from the LIDAR scanning. The street level view can be generated in the same manner as any other view. In areas without high resolution scanning satellite maps can be stretched over a digital elevation model for a sculpted landscape view.
After significantly more research I was able to discover that the C3 Technologies street views are actually provided by Navteq although Apple may have their own project.
I can not believe I am about to write this, however, if you look at Bing Maps it is far better than google maps, especially when you look at the 3D satellite images, you can spin 360 degrees around an object and see it perfectly well. The only way you can do this with google is to go to google earth, and it only shows 3D from a south facing view and it very poor image qualify compare to what Bing is showing these days. If Apple does there on thing and we all agree google maps suck and M$ has not original ideas Apple will definitely be better.
The more choice the better I say.
Quote:
Originally Posted by aBeliefSystem
I agree, Bing maps are pretty good. The more choice the better I say.
Even Microsoft is dropping Bing maps for their upcoming WinMo8 in favor of Navteq/Nokia mapping.
http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/20/goodbye-bing-maps-windows-phone-8-will-use-nokia-maps-instead/
Quote:
Originally Posted by PhilBoogie
Interesting they're dropping Bing Maps. I know that Apple has the tendency to kill things but it seems MS does this way more often; could that be because they don't stand behind their products?
Because they probably think that something better is always going to come along, and maintaining a service that is rarely used is a waste of resources.