Apple Maps Vehicles Have Now Collected Street View Data in Over 40 States and 10 Countries

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Wow, Hobe Sound! I used to spend so much time there as a kid, as my grandparents lived there. I grew up in Broward.

Exactly, part of the surprise is that Apple would have the van HERE. Miami? Sure. Ft. Lauderdale? Sure. Even West Palm? Sure. But Hobe Sound?

Nevertheless, there it was, looking like an alien craft trying to disguise itself as a white van. Nice to see Apple trying, even in a tiny town.

That said though, instead of a better street view, I hope these things are also correcting roads that go to nowhere, discovering missing roads long since being paved, plotting the correct locations of popularly-mapped sites, etc. In short, bring the core function of online maps in Maps up to par with Google Maps.

 

[mi7chy]

Apple Maps is only adequate for rural areas with nothing to display.

https://www.justinobeirne.com/google-maps-moat

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

yeah apple maps needs a lot of work and so do a lot of other things apple does... like siri. Improvement is good, but its taking FOREVER.

I did hear the people in the van ask Siri if she was sure they were in Hobe Sound, Florida.

I think I heard Siri reply: "I don't know what sure means but here's what I found on the web for what sure means."

 

[m4mario]

Augmented Reality in maps is coming. I can predict that with good confidence based on what I've read so far.

 

[automactic]

I think you make a good point. Some never resort to using Apple Maps preinstalled on an iPhone, they just automatically download Google maps and assume Apple Maps is not relevant or as accurate as Apple Maps is. I find Apple Maps to be in my city excellent for road closures and alternative routes to reach my destination without issue. I’m not being dismissive for anyone that likes Google maps or Waze, I don’t even have either of those apps installed on my phone, because Apple Maps has been my primary.

Yeah, totally agree with what you said. I have been using Apple Maps + CarPlay + Waze in the background with alerts since I got my car in 2016.

Last year, I was on I-87, Apple Maps told me to get off and use US9. I didn't listen, thinking apple maps is going crazy. Later Waze informed me "estimated time in traffic, 1 hour".

 

[DominikHoffmann]

I recently was followed by one for about 2 mi on a road north of Detroit. Will my car be in the imagery for the area?

What was interesting to me were the four LIDARs on each of the corners of the vehicle. They were angled down slightly, presumably to map things like curbs and nearby features. At that they should pass on the data collected on all the potholes along that stretch of road to the municipality responsible for upkeep.

 

[BornAgainMac]

At launch Apple Maps had some problems but it isn't anywhere as bad is people claim. Stopped using Google Maps years ago except I do like to go to Streets View on my iMac to look up places.

 

[rotlex]

I think it really depends on where you live, and your past experience. I tried Apple Maps a few times, a few years ago, and stuck with Google from then on. Due to a recent new car purchase which included Apple Carplay, I decided to give Maps a try again. Much to my surprise, it's been surprisingly accurate both locally, and on a few 100+ mile trips so far.

I'd say if you haven't used it in a while, try it again. You might like it.

 

[Lidar]

I caught 3 of these in a row in between Little Rock and Memphis on I-40 a couple of weeks ago. They had covers over the cameras. They weren’t collecting data. Notice the distance meter on the rear tire. This allows them to couple the actual measured distance traveled with the internal IMU to create very accurate spatial position.

 

[Carlanga]

At launch Apple Maps had some problems but it isn't anywhere as bad is people claim. Stopped using Google Maps years ago except I do like to go to Streets View on my iMac to look up places.

No, at the beginning it was terrible for many, wrong one ways, lakes, on roads and more...

 

[Doomtomb]

I feel like Google is doing today whatever Apple will start doing in 5 years

 

[Lidar]

Hasn't this already been done by Google and those guys?

"Never hurts to double check."

In fact it has not the same. Google and Bing only use imagery. Blending the LiDAR with the imagery creates an ultra rich data set. With this new data, we will be able to know how far you have to walk to get to the ACTUAL DOORWAY of a building from where you are. Of course we will need a correction service applied to our devices to achieve sub-meter accuracy to do this.

Check out these linsk to see what all you can do with LiDAR data:
https://www.sam.biz/video
https://www.sam.biz/services/geospatial/mobile-lidar

 

[darkfiber]

I spotted one in the Columbus Ohio area on Saturday.

 

[Swift]

I've never had any issues with Apple Maps.

Me neither. To be frank, I live in Los Angeles, so large cities are mapped thoroughly. When I used Google Maps a few years ago, it sent me on a route that would have required me to break through a barrier on the exit it wanted, and then it was very slow to send me an alternate. Every map makes errors. Another thing about Google Maps -- for me -- is that it tells you to turn too late, quite often.

 

[avanpelt]

Here's an anecdote that sums up Apple Maps for me.

I'm in Metro Atlanta and the closest Apple Store is about 15 minutes from me when traffic is good. I put an upcoming Genius Bar appointment in my iCloud calendar on purpose so Apple Maps would tell me when it was time to leave. When Apple Maps thought it was time for me to leave, I got a notification saying traffic was light and I'd arrive at the mall in 15 minutes.

It turns out that there was some major roadwork going on between me and the mall (which clearly wasn't the pop up variety that had just started as I was leaving to head to the mall). Bottom line, thanks to Apple Maps, I was 15 minutes late to my Genius Bar appointment.

Needless to say, Apple can add Street View, but I'm still depending on Google Maps and Waze.

 

[The Cappy]

I saw one of those about 2 months ago, in a parking lot. They guys appeared to be taking a break.

 

[Kynmore]

Spotted one of these just a month or so ago around Tampa. Lets see how well to does.
[doublepost=1525115076][/doublepost]

Here's an anecdote that sums up Apple Maps for me.
Needless to say, Apple can add Street View, but I'm still depending on Google Maps and Waze.

Gotta love the Waze. Wish we had an option to use it as the default map system.

 

[HiRez]

I agree with Apple, even in 2018, Google's implementation of Street View is a disaster from a UI/UX standpoint. The concept and data is great but the execution is awful. Every time I try to use it, it frustrates the hell out of me. Still an opportunity for Apple to present this data in a more seamless way.

 

[Xavier]

Saw one drive by yesterday!

 

[dannyyankou]

Apple maps is terrible. Only use when you want to not find where you need to go.

Funny you say that, a couple weeks ago Google maps lead me to a street closed off with downed power lines, and lead me to a 10 minute detour in the process. I compared routes prior to my trip, and only Apple Maps had it right.

 

[avanpelt]

I suspect they’re doing something along the lines of “automated” street view where you can put in an origin and destination and then get a scrubbable, interactive video that allows you to pan, tilt, and zoom the video to see your surroundings at any point during the trip. Instead of “Street View”, they’ll probably call it something like “Road Trip”.

 

[ActionableMango]

Apple Maps is only adequate for rural areas with nothing to display.

https://www.justinobeirne.com/google-maps-moat

You must have extraordinarily high standards for what's "adequate" in mapping software. In those comparisons on that blog, Apple Maps is perfectly fine. Yes, Google's maps are so detailed you can see building shapes, AC units on the tops of roofs, and even bay windows on houses, but that's detail that's not really required to navigate.

There's also the concept of too much detail, which can slow down users by getting too cluttered. If I just want to glance at something quickly, I just need streets, street names, and landmarks. The AC units on the tops of buildings isn't helpful for navigation--in fact, it's detail that actually gets in the way due to cluttering the screen.

 

[NoNothing]

Apple maps is terrible. Only use when you want to not find where you need to go.

I've used Apple Maps from coast to coast and many places in-between in the US and have found them to be very high quality.

 

[truthertech]

great. it now might be about as accurate as a high school map.

They've already been shown to be the most accurate. There's a reason Apple Maps is by far the most used mapping app on the iPhone beyond it being pre-installed, because, of course, people wouldn't use a mapping service that was inaccurate when they have multiple free options, like Google Maps, etc., that can be downloaded in less than a minute. Indeed, when Apple last reported it a couple of years ago, Apple Maps was being used several BILLION times a week.

 

[inkswamp]

Cool. Street view is mostly a novelty but it can be fun and useful to view an area you're going to ahead of time to get a sense of the place. I've used Apple Maps exclusively for several years now and haven't really missed Google's street view, but it will be nice to see Apple implement it just the same.