Apple Adds New Flyover Locations to Maps, Siri Movie Showtimes in More Countries

[MacRumors]

Apple has added several new locations to its Maps Flyover feature in iOS and OS X, including three new areas in France, two new landmarks in Arizona, and several other popular spots in New Zealand, Wyoming, Arkansas, and Sweden. The new additions to Flyover allow users to take a close 3D look at the areas, zooming in on buildings and recognizable landmarks.

Here's a full list of the new Flyover locations:

- Avignon, France
- Biarritz, France
- Perpignan, France
- Devil's Tower, Wyoming
- Dunedin, New Zealand
- Grand Canyon, Arizona
- Meteor Crater, Arizona
- Royal Gorge, Arkansas
- Visby, Sweden

First introduced with iOS 6 and based on technology that Apple acquired from the purchase of C3 Technologies, Flyover is now available in more than 100 different locations across the world.

In addition to updates to Flyover, Apple has also added movie showtime listings to Siri in several countries including Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, and Spain.

Article Link: Apple Adds New Flyover Locations to Maps, Siri Movie Showtimes in More Countries

 

[Traverse]

Wow, a lot of Apple Maps activity going on lately. Keep it coming!


Still, I question how useful flyover is compared to Google Street view.

 

[critter13]

zzzzzZZZZZzzzz

how about transit and more accurate business listings? things that we will actually use.

 

[bpeeps]

Because more flyover is what everyone wants. I would like to love Maps because it has the best turn by turn voice navigation. But POIs and directions are still off, rendering the app useless.

 

[El Pollo Diablo]

I don't get Apple's priorities here. Satellite images for where I live (Norway) are still in black and white, very low resolution, and with some areas covered in huge clouds. They're absolutely useless.

 

[doelcm82]

how about transit and more accurate business listings? things that we will actually use.

Do you want accurate transit, or just hit or miss?

I think that teams of people whose specialty is transit and not 3D landscape rendering are working on that. But perhaps the flyover experts can go and help them/get in their way.

 

[Nunyabinez]

I'm glad that they gave us flyover maps for the Grand Canyon and Meteor Crater. That is so much more useful than flyovers in places where thousands of people are living, working and commuting everyday. /s

 

[nagromme]

It's always been more accurate than Google in my town, and business listings have gradually gotten noticeably more thorough. Transit would be great--but for now, Apple Maps hands off transit searches to Google automatically, which is a decent stopgap.

Flyover for other places is just for fun. For MY city it's actually useful! More than Street View, to my surprise: SO much easier quicker to get around the map in Flyover vs. Street View.

Good news: the guys that fly the flyover planes don't have the same skillset as the developers working on other map features. It's entirely different people, so it's not "either or." Apple IS working on whatever feature YOU want, even if they are also expanding Flyover.

I don't get Apple's priorities here. Satellite images for where I live (Norway) are still in black and white, very low resolution, and with some areas covered in huge clouds. They're absolutely useless.

My city's in color, but looking around the world I've seen too much black and white! It's 2014. Color cameras were invented in 2012 if not earlier. Agreed, the aerial photo quality in some areas needs to catch up! Haven't noticed clouds--that sounds obnoxious.

Check out Machu Picchu... just not the same in drab gray!

 

[doelcm82]

I'm glad that they gave us flyover maps for the Grand Canyon and Meteor Crater. That is so much more useful than flyovers in places where thousands of people are living, working and commuting everyday. /s

I'm glad they gave us the Grand Canyon and Meteor Crater, too. They're more interesting than a bunch of buildings.

 

[Glassed Silver]

In addition to updates to Flyover, Apple has also added movie showtime listings to Siri in several countries including Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, and Spain.

Wow, let me just quickly google which keynote showed this feature off to get excited about it again...

Glassed Silver:mac

 

[Stella]

Fly overs are pretty pointless , street view is far better IMO.

I'd like to see transit and cycling navigation too.

Nice that Apple are improving maps - but still a bit too unreliable for day to day use. Maybe another 12 months.

 

[brueck]

Heres a radical notion. Apple is working on all aspects of mapping at the same time, and working on flyover doesn't mean they're not also working on transit/improving accuracy. Engineers specialize in certain fields, and can't just change careers because a product needs work. Apple has put OS X engineers to work on iOS because the two products are similar.

 

[0xyMoron]

At this rate Apple Maps is a product that should have been kept in development for at least 3 more years, it was far too rushed.

 

[BigJayhawk]

At this rate Apple Maps is a product that should have been kept in development for at least 3 more years, it was far too rushed.

People quickly forget and blame Apple for switching from Google Maps.

HELLO ----> Google was hijacking Apple Maps by only allowing verbal directions on Android even though iOS Users demanded that. As soon as Apple dropped Google's mapping and gave iOS proper driving directions, Google nearly IMMEDIATELY came out with Verbal directions for iOS and now are whiners because a TINY FRACTION of iOS Users installed and use Google Maps anymore compared to iOS Maps usage.

Google has no one to blame but Google (and neither do Users that complain about Apple having to rush this to market. Besides Apple Maps is WAY BETTER for the thousands of customers that I have finding my business (a Hilton Hotel) and other places in our area than Google ever was in its long history. Don't even let me get started about MapQuest, etc. etc.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Can only guess why they chose the cities they did, but the Avignon flyover is awesome. Try a tour of the city walls.

 

[macintologist]

Still no flyover in Columbus OH.

 

[newagemac]

Wow, a lot of Apple Maps activity going on lately. Keep it coming!


Still, I question how useful flyover is compared to Google Street view.

Street View is absolutely TERRIBLE for giving you an overview of how a city/area is laid out. That's what Flyover is for. I think you have the use cases confused.

I certainly wouldn't be Tap... Wait... Tap..... Wait.....Tapping down every street through miles and miles of New York on my first business trip there next month. With Flyover I've been planning my trip and feel like I know the area well enough to get around now.

 

[powers74]

Cool! I love flyover and I happen to think it's better than "Street View" anyway, but of course, that's just me. I just wish they could crank it out a little faster and wish it wasn't quite so garbled. I also like that they can get remote areas that simply can't be accessed by cars. It's going to be totally sweet when they eventually have the whole globe flown over and the quality gets a little better.

 

[newagemac]

Fly overs are pretty pointless , street view is far better IMO.

I'd like to see transit and cycling navigation too.

Nice that Apple are improving maps - but still a bit too unreliable for day to day use. Maybe another 12 months.

Oh look another person comparing apples and oranges. Flyover and Street View do entirely different things. Street View can't give you a detailed overview of a city like Flyover is designed to do. Not unless you want to spend a year of your life tapping your way down miles and miles of road.... and don't venture too far off.

Street View is ridiculously bad at what Flyover is designed for.

 

[reed66]

Royal Gorge Arkansas????? How about Royal Gorge, CO.....

 

[Karma*Police]

But POIs and directions are still off, rendering the app useless.

That would make pretty much every nav app useless cos I've yet to come across one that didn't have those issues. That said, Apple has been much better about updating POI info based on user input so you should submit feedback whenever you catch an error. You might be pleasantly surprised at how quickly they update it.

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People quickly forget and blame Apple for switching from Google Maps.

HELLO ----> Google was hijacking Apple Maps by only allowing verbal directions on Android even though iOS Users demanded that. As soon as Apple dropped Google's mapping and gave iOS proper driving directions, Google nearly IMMEDIATELY came out with Verbal directions for iOS and now are whiners because a TINY FRACTION of iOS Users installed and use Google Maps anymore compared to iOS Maps usage.

Google has no one to blame but Google (and neither do Users that complain about Apple having to rush this to market. Besides Apple Maps is WAY BETTER for the thousands of customers that I have finding my business (a Hilton Hotel) and other places in our area than Google ever was in its long history. Don't even let me get started about MapQuest, etc. etc.

Since I can't make heads or tails of Google's confusing mess of a maps UI, Apple Maps wins by default for me.

 

[FightTheFuture]

People quickly forget and blame Apple for switching from Google Maps.

HELLO ----> Google was hijacking Apple Maps by only allowing verbal directions on Android even though iOS Users demanded that. As soon as Apple dropped Google's mapping and gave iOS proper driving directions, Google nearly IMMEDIATELY came out with Verbal directions for iOS and now are whiners because a TINY FRACTION of iOS Users installed and use Google Maps anymore compared to iOS Maps usage.

Google has no one to blame but Google (and neither do Users that complain about Apple having to rush this to market. Besides Apple Maps is WAY BETTER for the thousands of customers that I have finding my business (a Hilton Hotel) and other places in our area than Google ever was in its long history. Don't even let me get started about MapQuest, etc. etc.

Yep. Folks here have very VERY short memories of how hindered iOS' stock maps app was before Apple Maps, which prompted Google to develop their dedicated Maps app.

Here's the bigger picture: Apple Maps was released with iOS6 two years ago. If you don't like Apple Maps, you should've switched to something else by now. There are plenty of options to choose from. Stop complaining that x isn't as good as y and move on.

 

[FieldingMellish]

Flyover is ridiculous. First, help me find everything on the ground. Then you can concentrate on how things look from 30 or 40 thousand feet up in the air.

 

[doelcm82]

Flyover is ridiculous. First, help me find everything on the ground. Then you can concentrate on how things look from 30 or 40 thousand feet up in the air.

But not until after you cure cancer. Any work on POI's before finding a cure for cancer is ridiculous!

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Cool! I love flyover and I happen to think it's better than "Street View" anyway, but of course, that's just me. I just wish they could crank it out a little faster and wish it wasn't quite so garbled. I also like that they can get remote areas that simply can't be accessed by cars. It's going to be totally sweet when they eventually have the whole globe flown over and the quality gets a little better.

Street View is basically QuickTime VR from the 1990s. It has its uses, but I've always said that Apple should extend the "Flyover" paradigm down to street level. You should be able to fly down to the street level and seamlessly enter "DriveThru", or enter a public building and transition to "WalkThru".

 

[Nicksd84]

Probably the least used nice feature of iOS (for me). I almost always forget it's there as I don't have any practical use for it. Usually if I'm bored on the couch I'll give it a whirl, but at the same time don't have any complaints about it.

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If you don't like Apple Maps, you should've switched to something else by now. There are plenty of options to choose from. Stop complaining that x isn't as good as y and move on.

I am fine using Apple Maps now after the wave of data point updates over the last few months. However, the point you made would be fine if you could change the default maps app, but when a third party maps app can't present a map on the lock screen (except text via push notifications) or the integration with links, siri, etc. then maybe you can understand the complaints?