Apple expands iOS Maps' 3D Flyover coverage of California

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
In a recent update to its iOS Maps app, Apple added Flyover support a large swath of California, including popular tourist attractions like Disneyland in Anaheim.

Maps
Apple's Flyover view adds numerous California cities, including Anaheim (Disneyland shown on left).
The service now spans from San Bernardino to Santa Monica (right).


First spotted by AppleInsider reader Mike M., the additions show Apple is actively updating its mapping assets after the much maligned service was introduced in September of last year. The company has been continually hiring new recruits to address issues with the service, including erroneous location data and 3D rendering problems.

The new support includes San Bernardino, Riverside, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario and Moreno Valley, among others. With the additions, Maps offers nearly unbroken Flyover coverage of cities from San Bernardino to the Pacific Ocean.

It is unclear if the California cities are the only additions to Apple Maps, though it is possible that other states, or even countries, were added to the list with the latest update.

Earlier in May, Apple added Flyover to Paris, while an update in March brought the 3D mapping feature to 15 major metropolitan cities.

As Apple builds out its Flyover capabilities, Google's competing Google Earth service is also slowly evolving. A report on Wednesday showed that the Internet search giant is having problems with 3D rendering akin to what Apple experienced in iOS Maps, including buckled roads, visual distortions and misplaced buildings.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    just_mejust_me Posts: 590member


    Wheres the link to see this expanded coverage?

  • Reply 2 of 14
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member


    Apple comes out with their first maps attempt, the media and fantards get their tighty-whities in a bunch and scream doom!



    Google, with 10+ years of maps experience is blundering all over place with their maps view... yet not a peep from anyone.  Is it really that people have such low standards of the quality coming out from Google?  Is Apple the only one held to such a standard?

  • Reply 3 of 14
    noelosnoelos Posts: 126member
    I only wish some (any) effort was being applied to improving the service in my region - Australia. The maps are great but the POI data is shockingly bad and reporting errors is a waste of effort. Stuff I reported 7 months ago is still not fixed.
  • Reply 4 of 14
    cashxxcashxx Posts: 114member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by noelos View Post



    I only wish some (any) effort was being applied to improving the service in my region - Australia. The maps are great but the POI data is shockingly bad and reporting errors is a waste of effort. Stuff I reported 7 months ago is still not fixed.


    I would email Tim Cook and bring that to his attention and ask him what the problem [email protected]

  • Reply 5 of 14
    isaidsoisaidso Posts: 750member


    Well why not?


    It is a small world (after all).

  • Reply 6 of 14
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    isaidso wrote: »
    Well why not?
    It is a small world (after all).

    ROFL
  • Reply 7 of 14
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    sflocal wrote: »
    Apple comes out with their first maps attempt, the media and fantards get their tighty-whities in a bunch and scream doom!


    Google, with 10+ years of maps experience is blundering all over place with their maps view... yet not a peep from anyone.  Is it really that people have such low standards of the quality coming out from Google?  Is Apple the only one held to such a standard?

    I could be wrong but I assume Google is moving from those funny little 3D boxes made in Sketchup to meshes created from something similar to the technology Apple bought from SAAB, hence their newly found problems. Anyone know the facts on this?
  • Reply 8 of 14
    aaarrrggghaaarrrgggh Posts: 1,609member
    noelos wrote: »
    I only wish some (any) effort was being applied to improving the service in my region - Australia. The maps are great but the POI data is shockingly bad and reporting errors is a waste of effort. Stuff I reported 7 months ago is still not fixed.

    You might try to report POI data to Yelp instead; they are the source of much of the data.
  • Reply 9 of 14
    anakin1992anakin1992 Posts: 283member


    hoover dam nevada


     


    look for dam area, not couple of other locations. 


     


    the bridge across the hoover dam canyon used to "collapsing into water" in flyover view. now it is fine

  • Reply 10 of 14
    poochpooch Posts: 768member
    anakin1992 wrote: »
    hoover dam nevada

    look for dam area, not couple of other locations. 

    the bridge across the hoover dam canyon used to "collapsing into water" in flyover view. now it is fine

    that's been fixed for a while now ... at least since march ...
  • Reply 11 of 14
    otriotri Posts: 13member


    Both Apple and Google are tackling an immense challenge.  It's incredible that Apple has advanced their mapping technology as quickly as they have.  Their Flyover geometry is getting built out at a breakneck pace, which must be assisted by very impressive internal tools.


     


    Google openly revealed their impressive set of tools they use to build and rebuild their map data.


     


    Check out this Google IO session on "Project Ground Truth":


    https://developers.google.com/events/io/sessions/383278298


     


    The elbow grease is the necessary human part of building your rich street map data.   Both Apple and Google are using advanced image recognition techniques to assist their mapping efforts, but there's only so much you can do to stay on top of the reported problems.  Eventually Apple is going to need to open up map data corrections to the public much like Google has with simplified map editing tools. Those corrections can be streamlined into the database by trained experts.  Google's stance of staying on top of the incoming reports, and updating the live map data within hours or even minutes is very impressive.


     


    Here's hoping that Google's open reveal of their Ground Truth efforts leads to more advanced mapping tools by everyone, including Apple, Bing Maps and others.


     


    Expect the bidding war for Waze to be fierce.

  • Reply 12 of 14
    poochpooch Posts: 768member
    In a recent update to its iOS Maps app, Apple added Flyover support a large swath of California, including popular tourist attractions like Disneyland in Anaheim.

    is it really an update to the maps app? or is it a server side thing? cuz i can't download the maps app separately from iOS, can you?

    ... and i'm sitting here patiently waiting for folks to chime in that "i don't know why apple is wasting all their time and resources on 3d flyover when they should be working on <insert favorite whatchmacallit here>"
  • Reply 13 of 14
    otriotri Posts: 13member


    Woops, it appears Google took the Project Ground Truth video down.  Too much of a reveal perhaps??

  • Reply 14 of 14
    starbird73starbird73 Posts: 538member


    Must be fairly recent flyover images (past 11 months). Carsland and Buena Vista Street are done, and doesn't appear that any of the construction walls are there. Sweet!

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