Apple Maps for iOS Adds 3D Flyover Coverage in Paris

[Keane16]

I love this feature. It beats hands on any street view. The problem is the number of city covered...

Have to agree. I'm a big fan of Flyover.

To people questioning the value of this feature - you've clearly never used Google Earth. Software and features like this are indispensable to professionals in my industry (architecture & urban design), which makes up more than what I would refer to as a niche in Apple's professional sector.

To people comparing this to Street View - apples and oranges...no pun intended.

You are obviously one of the smart ones on this forum. They have different use cases. If I want a detailed view, e.g. looking up a house number on the front of a building - I'll use street view. If I want to navigate a city I don't know then I'd use Flyover hands down.

Street view is detailed, but clunky to navigate. Flyover is less detailed but excellent for getting a quick overview. I'm glad on iOS we get both options.

I'll be using Flyover for just this reason on Monday in Manchester, England to see where I'm going to stand to watch the Manchester United open top bus parade.

 

[MonkeySee....]

Unbelievable that they keep working on this worthless function for no good reason what so ever. Apple must really suffer from a severe brain drain these days.

What about adding something useful for a change, how about street view, or speeding cameras, or something else USEFUL!

Worthless?

I find it fascinating. If you're on an iPad an you want to look at these city's for a lesson in school or to see the famous architecture then its amazing.

Just to go Rome for example and learn something.

 

[Oletros]

Flyover/Google's 3D View and Street view have totally different uses and they complement each other.

 

[SBlue1]

while it surely looks nice and some people may use it i find street view way more informative. i was searching for a hotel in NYC and i was not able to check the loction in flyover cause there was allways a tall building in the way no matter what direction i looked from. street view showed me the front of the hotels and i was able to choose the one i liked most.

so yeah this looks like a gimmick like the gimmicks samsung uses in its phones.

 

[Keane16]

while it surely looks nice and some people may use it i find street view way more informative. i was searching for a hotel in NYC and i was not able to check the loction in flyover cause there was allways a tall building in the way no matter what direction i looked from. street view showed me the front of the hotels and i was able to choose the one i liked most.

so yeah this looks like a gimmick like the gimmicks samsung uses in its phones.

Apart from the fact you're using 2 products with different strengths inefficiently, I just have to ask...

Who on earth picks a hotel by the way it looks on Street View?!?!

 

[iMikeT]

Nice, it's like I'm in Paris without actually being there!

 

[hafr]

Apart from the fact you're using 2 products with different strengths inefficiently, I just have to ask...

Who on earth picks a hotel by the way it looks on Street View?!?!

Maybe he was looking at the surroundings to make sure the hotel wasn't located in a shady area? And also, the front of a hotel more often than not gives a pretty good indication of whether it's worth what you're paying...

 

[Toltepeceno]

Maybe he was looking at the surroundings to make sure the hotel wasn't located in a shady area? And also, the front of a hotel more often than not gives a pretty good indication of whether it's worth what you're paying...

We look at hotels on street view when going somewhere here in mexico for the exact same reason you stated. There are some hotels that look nice on the internet that are in very bad areas. Not everyone can afford 5 star hotels in the best locations and Not everyone goes to the typical tourist traps (like most mexican's). Street view is great for this.

 

[SBlue1]

Who on earth picks a hotel by the way it looks on Street View?!?!

I had to choose between some very cheap hotels and I wanted to check the neighborhood as well as see what the hotels looked like since they had no pictures of the buildings. And yeah one of them was in a ghetto kind of street with the building next to it having broken glass windows while the other hotels looked clean and nice and had all kind of cool cafes, bars and delis next to them. So yeah for me it was helpful.

My point was that it should be possible to hide obstacles like tall buildings or trees with a click. Would be a big improvement.

 

[Keane16]

I had to choose between some very cheap hotels and I wanted to check the neighborhood as well as see what the hotels looked like since they had no pictures of the buildings. And yeah one of them was in a ghetto kind of street with the building next to it having broken glass windows while the other hotels looked clean and nice and had all kind of cool cafes, bars and delis next to them. So yeah for me it was helpful.

My point was that it should be possible to hide obstacles like tall buildings or trees with a click. Would be a big improvement.

Makes sense for you. My apologies if I sounded harsh.

I like the suggestion about being able to hide/see through buildings. Would be nice addition.

 

[paulsdenton]

C'est Magnifique!

This is great. All the bozo naysayers out there can kiss my derrière. It's like being right there in my second favorite city. The Place des Vosges is astounding! The Place de la Concorde looks weird without any traffic, however. To me the views I like best are the Butte Montmartre, the river, the Grand Palace area, Champs de Mars and Ecole Militaire, but I could go on and on. Love it!!

 

[toby00001]

This is not a niche feature though. It is the one thing distinguishing Apple Maps from Google Map (besides the horrendous search capabilities of the former, but that is beside the point).

@ontopic
I must admit that I would have expected the whole expansion to go a little faster than it does .. but well. I like flyover, but with the current coverages it is next to useless in my life.

I didn't suggest it was a niche feature...