Apple Maps Flyover Adds 3D Views of Perth, Saint-Tropez, and Cordoba

[dannyyankou]

Apple map, not updated in months

Google street view, not updated in years (this is supposed to be Yankee Stadium).

 

[mw360]

If you're seeing enough distortion (after the first moments during loading) that Flyover isn't useful, then your experience is far different from mine. It's incredibly useful to me, seeing the shape of a building and it's surrounding approaches. Great for planning parking and being able to know in advance what you're looking for.

I always liked Google Street View for occasional uses like that, getting a feel for the surroundings of a new distination (what parking might be easiest, how tall the building is, etc.). I always assumed Flyover would be a mediocre second-best for that kind of thing, cool though it may be.

In reality, I find I launch Google Steet View about twice a year now (and am often disappointed by massive blurriness and lens flares when I try it). Whereas I use Flyover more than I ever used to use Street View.

They both show the "real" shape of the roads and buildings in a way a flat aerial photo can't. Street View in theory can show smaller signs than Flyover—but in reality is usually too blurry or distorted for that. Street View is eye-level while Flyover is up above the street—but I have zero problem recognizing something just because of that angle difference. In fact, an elevated view lets me see further—I find myself wishing that Street View would let me pop 40 feet in the air too.

And Flyover--IF your city has it--is SO MUCH EASIER TO USE. In Street View imaging roaming around all sides of a 1-block building to see what the different entrances are. Tap... pan awakwardly... load... tap... jump another 20 feet... it takes FOREVER and has no smooth motion. It's a sluggish, messy slideshow.

Flyover is fast, smooth, and truly 3D. It shows depth and scale in a way Streetview can't, and you can roam the block in seconds, spinning around the building using the SAME map controls you use for normal 2D viewing. It's not really a separate mode. Awesome.

I'm sure Street View will keep improving to the point where I use it again: it will show me small signs like parking rules. But I'm much happier with Flyover than I expected. It needs to reach more places. (And of course it will.)

I agree 100%. I guess everyone has different needs, but for scoping out routes and destinations flyover has been far more useful to me than street view. I didn't expect that, but that's how it turned out. It's just fast and fluid and you take take in a far bigger area at once.

 

[Reason077]

I wish Apple would expend more effort improving the Maps POIs, and the quality of the maps in general.

3D flyovers are "nice" and all, but not something that really improves my everyday life.

Better Maps, on the other hand, would.

 

[0098386]

I'm seeing lots of minor improvements to Apple Maps in general, but I still don't get the point of 3D maps since they don't do me any good. I wish they had put effort into a Street-view type service instead because these days I find myself using Apple Maps more than Google Maps (really don't like the new Gmaps interface).

 

[4mat]

Well hopefully they got the right Perth - the one on the west coast, not the tiny town in Tasmania.

Oh that is too funny. But seriously I was recently in Perth and was horrendously lost for most of my time there. Don't laugh, I'm not a city boy. Wish I had flyover to help me find my way around.

 

[kallekilponen]

I recently noticed Finland has got its first 3D views too. They seem to cover the major Helsinki metropolitan area by now. Hopefully other cities are coming too.

 

[msandersen]

I use both Apple maps and Google maps on my phone; Apple's day-to-day, and Google if I need to search for something specific not a street name, or need more detailed satellite maps. In my area, metropolitan Sydney, Apple's maps are just fine, and have noticed their improvements over time. As for flyover, I have used them on occasions where I'm going somewhere unfamiliar covered by them. I find it very useful for getting an overall sense of the area, with the buildings and surrounding roads, very different from a Street View which is useful for checking out a specific spot in detail, provided it hasn't changed too much since it was taken. The downside is that I live a bit outside the covered area, and the areas I go to most is not covered either. I'm forever hoping on an update, because the untold benefit not mentioned in these discussions is that using it top-down, it is like a highly-detail 3D satellite image, with the buildings in proper perspective and not covering the roads and landmarks I'm interested in; the way the buildings move gives you a much greater sense of place as you scroll over, and if you do want to check out a spot more thoroughly, then changing to a sideview and spinning the scene is very helpful to me. But that is still secondary to the benefit mentioned above from an enhanced top-down view. A flat satellite image with skewed buildings can sometimes be tricky to interpret, or cover roads or places you want to see. Here's hoping for updates for inner-western Sydney!