Apple improving 3D Flyover visuals in iOS 6 Maps

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  • Reply 41 of 104

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    AN OPEN LETTER TO TIM COOK


     


    Dear Mr. Cook,


     


    I am a long time user of Apple products and while I acknowledge there have been occasional missteps by Apple in the past, they have usually quickly been rectified. I assume the very same approach will be taken with Apple's Maps, however, I have an idea that you may freely use that I believe will both quickly help build out the capabilities of Apple's Maps service and engage the Apple community.


     


    The idea is simply to leverage the vast army of Apple devotees who own iPhones and 3G/LTE iPads to "fill in" missing data in Apple's Maps database.


     


    If Apple would provide to users who are willing to sign up for a special promotional program a "heat map" of the locations that are missing ground-level data that is needed, perhaps users would be willing to provide to Apple Panoramic imagery using their iOS devices. Our iPhones and iPads already have built-in some of the best location and positioning sensors available (short of an aircraft using LIDAR) in a consumer computing device, and for a small consideration---possibly credits for the App Store, or something not too unreasonable---WE could provide the "street level" data that is missing that could be used for expanding the capabilities of the Maps app and bring the fun aspects of geo-caching to the masses.


     


    I'd recommend a short online training session on Apple.com and for all participants to sign off on all the usual legal agreements so pictures and ground-based mapping data acquired would properly belong to Apple.


     


    Please consider using all of the brilliant tools at your disposal to make Maps better. Including a massive, loyal user base.


     


    Thank you.



     


     


    Hear, Hear!

  • Reply 42 of 104

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post




    Quote:

    Originally Posted by nagromme View Post




     


     


    No, it didn’t, and still doesn't. Neither 45-degree view nor Google Earth (even with a few 3D building models tacked on) are the same as FlyOver. Google IS working on something like FlyOver, as are others. But 45 degree view and Google Earth terrain and Google's long-time “3D buildings” thing are NOT it. Those are lesser, older methods that simply can’t do the same thing. They have the word “3D” in them, but they are not the same.


     


    Now, FlyOver currently does nothing for most of the Earth! Google Earth at least does something everywhere (more fun than useful, but I’m a big fan). I don’t live in one of the cities included in FlyOver so far. But FlyOver coverage is growing.


     


    Who will get there first? (Truly widespread coverage of high-detail 3D—not just terrain.) Who will do it best? One or both of those will be Apple, I suspect.



    Different strokes for all, but personally I don't see a particular need for either a 45 degree or "Flyover" view if you have both satellite view and Streetview available. Unless you're landing an aircraft I'm not sure what that additional view reveals that's significantly beneficial?



     


     


    Get a satellite view and a street view of the Statue of Liberty -- and you will immediately see the value of FlyOver.

  • Reply 43 of 104
    pt123pt123 Posts: 696member


    Nothing wrong with the old picture of the Brooklyn Bridge. Looks almost the same as the new picture. Why were people complaining?

  • Reply 44 of 104
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by anonymouse View Post




    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    While looking around NYC in 3D mode just now I noticed they might need to fix up the FDR a little bit. There are a number of buildings that are located right on top of the highway for example.



     


    Maybe you should call the UN about that and see if they'll move them.



    I think the actual buildings are fine. It appears to be a problem with the 3D models in Apple Maps. I have no idea what the UN has to do with anything.

  • Reply 45 of 104


    They've got 3D for London, Berlin, Oslo, Barthelona, Rome... but no Paris.

  • Reply 46 of 104
    antkm1 wrote: »
    I thought you guys got the message in the last article you posted about 45 degree.

    IT'S NOT A NEW FEATURE!!!

    IT WAS IMPLEMENTED AT LEAST A YEAR AGO IF NOT MUCH LONGER.

    Yup, AI botched on this one. Google launched 45-degree imagery back in 2009 - http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2009/12/changing-your-perspective.html.

    They also launched photogrammetric 3D (the same type used in Flyover) last summer, a few months before Apple did; although, in fairness, Apple does have more cities covered. Interestingly, the new photogrammetric 3D is only available in Google Earth on Android and iOS. The desktop versions don't have it yet. But there are some signs that Google will bring photogrammetric 3D to Maps in a future version: http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/09/20/whats-really-new-in-google-maps-6-12-a-3d-button-an-experiments-section-and-more/.
  • Reply 47 of 104
    hill60hill60 Posts: 6,992member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by antkm1 View Post


    I thought you guys got the message in the last article you posted about 45 degree.


     


    IT'S NOT A NEW FEATURE!!!


     


    YOU ARE SPINNING THIS TO MAKE FLYOVER LOOK LIKE IT'S SOME HUGE INNOVATION WHEN IT'S REALLY NOT.


     


    45 DEGREE HAS BEEN OUT FOR AT LEAST A YEAR, IF NOT MORE


    IT WAS SPECULATED TO COMPETE WITH BING'S "BIRD'S EYE VIEW".  IT WAS IMPLEMENTED AT LEAST A YEAR AGO IF NOT MUCH LONGER.



     


    NOT FOR IOS IT WASN'T WHICH IS WHY GOOGLE HAD TO GO.


     


    IS CAPSLOCK ALSO A NEW FEATURE?

  • Reply 48 of 104
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 6,857member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    I think the actual buildings are fine. It appears to be a problem with the 3D models in Apple Maps. I have no idea what the UN has to do with anything.



     


    Part of the UN complex is actually built over the FDR.

  • Reply 49 of 104
    isheldonisheldon Posts: 570member
    Once I sprout wings this should become very useful.

    Looking forward to a StreeView be it Apple or Google- whoever brings it first.
  • Reply 50 of 104
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by anonymouse View Post




    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    I think the actual buildings are fine. It appears to be a problem with the 3D models in Apple Maps. I have no idea what the UN has to do with anything.



     


    Part of the UN complex is actually built over the FDR.



    Thanks for the clarification. I see that now. I assumed that there was a problem with the geometry since the highway appeared to be going up the sides of the buildings. But that is apparently one of the those anomalies like we saw before with roads going under some bridges.

  • Reply 51 of 104
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by iSheldon View Post

    Once I sprout wings this should become very useful.


     


    Or once you get a frigging clue.

  • Reply 52 of 104
    Apple now also has custom icons for landmarks. When you are in 2D map mode and look at the Statue of Liberty, there's actually a small icon resembling the Statue of Liberty next to it. The NYSE also has an icon showing the building.
  • Reply 53 of 104
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by liuping View Post



    It's still messed up for me, and it's not cached, at least on my phone, since I have not visited that area before.

    All it is is a satellite view mapped onto the height field data (which does show how crude the height field data really is)


     


    No, it's low altitude flyover photography from multiple angles coupled with very high resolution elevation data  and C3's proprietary mapping algorithms.  They were claiming 6" resolution before Apple acquired them, looks like there's further tweaking to be done to hit that mark-- but my guess is that Flyover images are going to improve markedly over the next year, without the user having to do anything.


     


    In general, while the Maps debacle is a black eye for Apple short term, by this time next year it has the potential to be a real selling point.

  • Reply 54 of 104

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


     


    I'm not suggesting Apple buy Google. I'm suggesting they buy their own fleet of aerial vehicles that could be dispatched regularly to acquire the high-resolution LIDAR data they need to create the nifty FlyOver map views.



    They may not be able to buy Google (not that I think Google will let Apple anyway) but they have more than enough cash to buy Nokia / Navteq.  Nokia is hurting financially and their market cap is quite low but their mapping technology and IP is top notch. Apple could buy them without batting an eye lash. Last I checked Nokia has a market cap of approximately $10 billion.  Even if Apple made them an offer of $20 billion and seeing that MS uses Navteq as their back-end for Bing Maps / location services, Apple could sign a 10-year deal with MS allowing MS to use Navteq technology.  With $120 billion in the bank this definitely doable & Apple could use all the help they could get.

  • Reply 55 of 104
    The Brooklyn Bridge is still quite messed up in the above picture. The suspension cables are all missing and the pedestrian level has been crushed onto the motorway. Glad I came home over the Manhattan!
  • Reply 56 of 104
    bigpicsbigpics Posts: 1,397member


    Apple (and most of the Apple press) is not emphasizing one big advantage that Maps has over Google Maps: the size of the data downloads.


     


    The one report I did see pointed out that Google's raster downloads are at least several multiples (more as I remember) larger than Apple's vectorized ones.  This is $$ in the pockets of folk who run over their data caps, and faster (especially in non 4G areas or on non 4G phones) as well.  


     


    Seems something worth getting into people's heads and blunting the "Maps sucks" meme....

  • Reply 57 of 104
    jason98jason98 Posts: 768member
    Interestingly, I typed "Statue of Liberty" into Maps and got... no results. They need to make sure national monuments, at the very least, yield some kind of result.

    Same with Hover Dam. It finds me a location in UK not in NV as I would expect as I live in CA
  • Reply 58 of 104
    hill60hill60 Posts: 6,992member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jason98 View Post





    Same with Hover Dam. It finds me a location in UK not in NV as I would expect as I live in CA


     


    Isn't it the "Hoover" dam, named after one of your presidents?


     


    I even know that and I'm Australian.

  • Reply 59 of 104
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post


     


     


    Hear, Hear!



     


    Thanks. I hope he gets the message. :D

  • Reply 60 of 104
    Google should have played this one smarter. Although Apple is getting criticism in the short run, it won't last long. Many people thought Apple was greedy for playing company politics and ousting Google Maps - because Apple is more interested in hurting their direct competitor than benefiting the consumer. But, Apple booted Google Maps because they were crippling iOS. Intentionally leaving out features that users not only wanted, but needed to stay up-to date - namely turn by turn GPS, and vector maps. Google thought they could push Apple down, and market GPS on their phones as a selling point, and what did they get? They just got thrown out of 100 million iOS devices - that much less data for them to get their precious advertising revenue. Sorry Google!
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