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Hidden 'City Tours' Flyover Feature for iOS 8 Maps Discovered in Beta 2

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MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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One of the many new features coming in iOS 8 that Apple did not directly address during its Worldwide Developers Conference is "Flyover city tours". The feature is not currently available by default to those running iOS 8 betas, but developer Pierre Blazquez has discovered how to unlock Flyover city tours and partnered with Mac4Ever [Google Translate] to publish a video showing the feature in action for Paris.

At the moment, only the cities of Rome, Stockholm, Barcelona, New York, Paris, Glasgow, Cape Town, Perth, Bordeaux and the San Francisco Bay are available. One imagines that the visit was carefully prepared manually, and the list is therefore extend gradually over time.
Click to expand...
Apple's Maps app received significant criticism following the shift from a Google-powered app to an in-house version for iOS 6. But over the past two years Apple has continued to improve existing features and build out new ones to better compete with Google Maps. The Flyover feature showing 3D perspectives of buildings and physical features has been a particular emphasis for Apple, and the company has been working steadily to extend it to new areas of the world and improve the quality of its renderings.

Still, Apple's Maps team is said to be struggling with internal politics that have resulted in the departure of several key employees. While improvements such as transit information for Maps have been expected for iOS 8, the company mostly glossed over mapping issues with the exception of some new indoor mapping initiatives at WWDC. As a result, it is unclear just how many of the Maps improvements will make their appearance in time for the public launch and how many might be folded into later updates.

Article Link: Hidden 'City Tours' Flyover Feature for iOS 8 Maps Discovered in Beta 2
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/06/19/flyover-city-tours-ios-8-maps/
Corrode

Corrode

macrumors 65816
Dec 26, 2008
1,003
2,297
Calgary, AB
Glad to see work is still being done on Maps despite rumors of staff issues. Would prefer to see the basics addressed though, rather than feature additions. (Accuracy in Canada, search functionality, landmark updates, transit, etc.)
 
FlyersPh9

FlyersPh9

macrumors newbie
Oct 20, 2007
28
4
Philadelphia, PA
It's nice and all, but I can't see myself using this more than once. And that one time use would be just to test it for the sake of testing it. Seems pretty worthless.
 
Small White Car

Small White Car

macrumors G4
Aug 29, 2006
10,966
1,463
Washington DC
FlyersPh9 said:
It's nice and all, but I can't see myself using this more than once. And that one time use would be just to test it for the sake of testing it. Seems pretty worthless.
Click to expand...

It's not a feature for one person to use over and over. It's a feature that one city can suggest over and over to new visitors to use one time.

That's still millions of uses per year.
 
JaySoul

JaySoul

macrumors 68030
Jan 30, 2008
2,629
2,865
This is like that "Friends" episode when Joey wants to climb Everest but its $60,000 so he wants to rent a film about Everest and then they end up renting Die Hard.
 
E

Ed91

macrumors 6502
Dec 22, 2007
267
1
I like Flyover, but still think Maps would benefit more from something Street View-esq than a further roll out of Flyover. Don't get me wrong, more cities and features are always nice, but when I'm wondering what the entrance to my destination looks like, there's no competition with Street View - much wider coverage, much better resolution. Flyover tours sounds like nice eye candy for virtual tourists, but not much else.
 
J

Jsameds

Suspended
Apr 22, 2008
3,525
7,987
Spotted this during the keynote in the background when Craig Federighi mentioned the many features that they didn't have time to cover.

It's worth a glance over if you've not seen it already.

wwdc_2014_ios_8_new_features.jpg
 
cogitodexter

cogitodexter

macrumors regular
Jun 22, 2009
131
224
Naaaaaaarfolk, England
Love the music on the video... It's "Point of No Return" by Roger Subirana, whom I had never heard of until today (thank you Shazam app!). Very definitely fits the Apple 'feel'... :)
 
haruhiko

haruhiko

macrumors 604
Sep 29, 2009
6,529
5,875
Jsameds said:
Spotted this during the keynote in the background when Craig Federighi mentioned the many features that they didn't have time to cover.

It's worth a glance over if you've not seen it already.

Image
Click to expand...

So this site can pick one item from this slide to feature a story each day! Hurray click rate :D
 
C

ChrisCW11

macrumors 65816
Jul 21, 2011
1,037
1,433
Pfft

If I can't tilt to see the side of a building like on the new Fire Phone, what's the point?

Seriously though, I don't actually see the point in a fly-over mode considering that the most annoying thing about this feature is seeing how quickly you can get to parts of the city as the bird flies while Maps guides you to the most congested and grid-locked parts of the city. It's like a kick in the balls after you are already down.

The whole point of a map app on a phone is for direction and guidance, not superfluous stuff like 3DFX and flyovers. Both Amazon and Apple simply do not get it.

There is a reason why Google separated Google Earth from Google Maps, because watching a freaking flyover while stuck in grid-lock is not the point of a a Map app, its what you do at home sitting on your couch using Google Earth.

Apple should focus on rock-solid guidance and avoidance of congestion rather then adding fancy useless features, or at least create a separate iEarth app.
 
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