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

[Verita]

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.

Exactly! If you have exactly $500, you can fly one way to Paris and potentially starve to death, or you can buy a nice iPad and enjoy the city from the comfort of your own couch!

Let's be honest: there's no substitute for going to the actual place. However, this is a great way to get a visual orientation of major cities before visiting. Agree that cities will likely promote this in their apps.

 

[Mtmspa]

Why do people feel the need to comment on every feature that is uncovered? You have the choice to use it or not. You aren't going to influence Apple. Switch to Android and go away.

 

[Godzilla71]

That looks pretty cool.

 

[richwoodrocket]

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

Interesting. I see no practical use other than messing around.

 

[J InTech82]

If you can set the start point (location/address) and points in-between with an end point I can see how this might be useful otherwise I think it's kind of gimmicky.

Also if this makes it in iOS 8, shouldn't we see this in Yosemite as well?

 

[SuperRob]

Seems like a silly thing for Apple to be using its resources on.

You're one of those, huh? Just because they have someone who is skilled at creating 3D imagery, and can invest time into making maps prettier, doesn't mean they also have a skill set that could be applied elsewhere, like database work, for example.

Yes, it's frustrating as an end-user to see "pointless" features like this getting attention when their backend data is still abysmal. But you can't usually shuffle people between different types of jobs, so adding more of one thing doesn't necessarily mean that another thing isn't getting done because of it. It just doesn't work that way.

 

[madsci954]

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.

Or the time my wife and I went on a Google Maps Street View tour of Compton and Tokyo

 

[rdlink]

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

And you'll have at least one thing to read and comment on per day. Hurray...

 

[unobtainium]

Seems like a silly thing for Apple to be using its resources on.

Agreed. I'm usually an ardent defender of Apple, but i'm starting to get a bit fed up with their wasting of labor resources. They never seem to fix the things that need fixing, like a lack of transit routing, or the glitchiness of iTunes Match, or the lack of a streaming music subscription service.

 

[Otis Bagotis]

I could see it being used as a fancy way of orienting yourself in a new city. When we visited Paris a few years back it wasn't until day 2 that we really started to enjoy ourselves because we had a much better sense of where we were and where we needed to go. Getting familiarized with a new city before arriving makes your vacation that much easier.

Sure most people won't use it more than a couple times but with millions of iPhones that's still a lot of uses.

 

[unclevername]

very 'magical' feature alright.

what is the use of this feature again?

Yeah, because nobody uses street view or any other type of "virtual city" map feature, right?

Agreed. I'm usually an ardent defender of Apple, but i'm starting to get a bit fed up with their wasting of labor resources. They never seem to fix the things that need fixing, like a lack of transit routing, or the glitchiness of iTunes Match, or the lack of a streaming music subscription service.

You do realise that different departments and different developers do different things, right?

 

[Piggie]

Looks great, I love it, though, even I must admit, in reality if this is just really pre-programmed landmarks, it's just really something to show off to people with.

Nice, but it is, what it is.

You could almost just make it into an App. Great flyovers of the world

 

[Mtmspa]

But, but I want a map of the ocean floor. Come on Apple, stop being lazy and work on what I want or I will force your hand by threatening to change to android.








/sarcasm

 

[ezdz]

Finally I can make my own Game Of Thrones intro

 

[grockk]

Not a google provided app. The original maps app was built by apple and used google data. It wasn't a google app.

 

[unobtainium]

You do realise that different departments and different developers do different things, right?

You do realize that there is someone at Apple who manages hiring and determines each department's direction and focus, right? Why is it that Apple can't seem to hire enough back-end people to fix basic functionality problems? Could it be a lack of direction and focus at higher levels of management?

Something is wrong when a company keeps pushing inconsequential stuff like this but can't direct resources toward actual usability problems people have been complaining about for years.

 

[bluespark]

You're one of those, huh? Just because they have someone who is skilled at creating 3D imagery, and can invest time into making maps prettier, doesn't mean they also have a skill set that could be applied elsewhere, like database work, for example.

Yes, it's frustrating as an end-user to see "pointless" features like this getting attention when their backend data is still abysmal. But you can't usually shuffle people between different types of jobs, so adding more of one thing doesn't necessarily mean that another thing isn't getting done because of it. It just doesn't work that way.

This point makes sense in theory, but after two years, Apple Maps still doesn't have public transportation data, or even most station locations. The priorities are messed up somewhere.

 

[bawbac]

"Our maps are not inaccurate and are perfect!" "Look, something shiny in the corner..."

 

[mdriftmeyer]

Interesting. I see no practical use other than messing around.

Right, because no one memorizes their travels via visual landmarks.

 

[69Mustang]

Right, because no one memorizes their travels via visual landmarks.

Very true. They do use visual landmarks. Typically they're from a terrestrial perspective. But, hey, there are some who can tell where they are by looking at a roof.

 

[unclevername]

You do realize that there is someone at Apple who manages hiring and determines each department's direction and focus, right? Why is it that Apple can't seem to hire enough back-end people to fix basic functionality problems? Could it be a lack of direction and focus at higher levels of management?

Something is wrong when a company keeps pushing inconsequential stuff like this but can't direct resources toward actual usability problems people have been complaining about for years.

I was unaware of your extensive knowledge of Apple's every day hiring practices. Do enlighten us some more.

 

[unobtainium]

I was unaware of your extensive knowledge of Apple's every day hiring practices. Do enlighten us some more.

It's not like I was saying anything specific. Companies have managers who set the direction of projects and oversee hiring. Or did you think Apple was just some anarchic free-for-all where anything can happen?

 

[paulsdenton]

I could see it being used as a fancy way of orienting yourself in a new city. When we visited Paris a few years back it wasn't until day 2 that we really started to enjoy ourselves because we had a much better sense of where we were and where we needed to go. Getting familiarized with a new city before arriving makes your vacation that much easier.

Sure most people won't use it more than a couple times but with millions of iPhones that's still a lot of uses.

I keep reliving my Paris visits in flyover; the imagery really is fantastic and VERY accurate. Tres magnifique! And also for planning the next visit...

Must go back to the Pantheon to pay my respects at the tomb of Zola!

 

[Ezhik]

Why do people feel the need to comment on every feature that is uncovered? You have the choice to use it or not. You aren't going to influence Apple. Switch to Android and go away.

Better than the nth iPhone 6 fake leak if you ask me.

 

[usersince86]

Nice, and cool, but would be good to get the maps division all heading the right direction first (no pun intended)