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Apple Maps Vehicles Have Now Collected Street View Data in Over 40 States and 10 Countries
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a globe annotated in backwards, upside down braille.
But, to be fair, Google maps often have just as many problems for me. Just depends on the situation. I still randomly try one, then the other, and hopefully get where I'm going. Altho, throw Siri in the mix and all bets are off. Try having Siri use Maps to navigate you to the Ritz Carlton Pentagon City, and you'll find yourself going to London.
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Ironically, that armada of Apple Maps Vehicles and I seem to be driving on different roads, as the road layout of the ones I am on is still different from what AM show. Meantime, a small Google Maps car went up our driveway 5 years ago.
I had been reporting the errors to Apple for ages and they still have not fixed them, so I think what AM could really use is live driver feedback, like Waze. It’s like having a massive pool of free Maps editors!
I had been reporting the errors to Apple for ages and they still have not fixed them, so I think what AM could really use is live driver feedback, like Waze. It’s like having a massive pool of free Maps editors!
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I use both Apple Maps only when Google Maps is not working... so not very often. A street view option on Apple Maps might be a good contrast to Google but Apple has a lot of catching up to do to match then, especially for those of us outside the US.
In my city - this is the problem. Apple Maps works great in selected areas (say A) and not well at all in other places (say D). You are just lucky to drive through an A-B areas. At the same time Waze-Google give us a solid B worldwide, with just a few exceptions. Apple Maps still rely on TomTom core data and the way it looks TomTom are not having a good ride themselves, facing a tough competition from many free SatNav solutions.
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I used Apple Maps exclusively in iOS 9, then switched to Waze in iOS 10 and stayed with Waze until now, mostly for its superior road layout accuracy & POI. I really want to go back to Apple Maps, as I find its routing way better compared to both Google & Waze, so I re-test it with every minor iOS update, like 11.1, 11.2, etc. However, AM still fail me in unknown areas, prompting me to turn against the road signs and missing the road closures. All of this happens on a 130 km stretch between France & Switzerland, so not the trickiest place on Earth to reach.
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I wish they'd hurry up and improve/add more features to Apple Maps. It needs to vastly improve its place database... they should tap more into things like Swarm/Foursquare for starters. Even in London I search for things that've been around for years and it can't find them - not good enough!
I like the CarPlay experience but hoping they open it up to Google Maps soon... after all, they've let Spotify be an option for music so why not let Google be there for mapping?
I like the CarPlay experience but hoping they open it up to Google Maps soon... after all, they've let Spotify be an option for music so why not let Google be there for mapping?
Barcley predicts that Apple Maps are on the Sucky side of maps. Their statement said"We predict that Apples sucki sucki 5$ maps indeed suck".
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I guess you have never opened them.
I wonder if Apple will do image analyses and map the images taken onto the 3D models that they have for many cities. That would make it a LOT better than Google Street View, as it would be much easier to navigate around in, and you can do increments at your leasure instead of those huge jumps Google Street View provides.
I mean if Apple Maps was a decent competitive rival to Google Maps AND it was available on Android then go all in, but at this point this seems like another "save face" project where Apple started something out of sheer spite and now I feel Maps is just a burden on the company they are forced maintain and update.
I see Apple have something planned for the future and something they will have total control. Why else would they expend time and money to do this when there are other companies that already mapped the country?
It is amazing to me the number of people spouting off on here about nothing they understand. Compairing mobile LiDAR to the raw georeferenced imagery that Google and others collect should not even be in the same category. This new map data is another example of Apple not being the first to do something, but the best once it finally does it.
And BTW... collecting that much MTLS data (mobile terrestrial LiDAR scanning) in that amount of time is one hell of a feat. You have to realize that this MTLS data is terabytes of data collected each day compared to gigabytes of just imagery. These cars have racked servers in the back of them and huge hard drives that you have to change out multiple times throughout the day.
One example of the things you can do with LiDAR data is the new underground maps of subway stations. You can go in, scan an area and build a 3D georeferenced model of millions on x, y & z data points to create anything.
And BTW... collecting that much MTLS data (mobile terrestrial LiDAR scanning) in that amount of time is one hell of a feat. You have to realize that this MTLS data is terabytes of data collected each day compared to gigabytes of just imagery. These cars have racked servers in the back of them and huge hard drives that you have to change out multiple times throughout the day.
One example of the things you can do with LiDAR data is the new underground maps of subway stations. You can go in, scan an area and build a 3D georeferenced model of millions on x, y & z data points to create anything.
2 years later it still doesn't know where I live and how to tell my friends to get there. Google? Google was up in less than 2 months
A common phrase for first time visitors "make sure you use google maps because apple will get you lost"
Lol, it's all good.
We definitely need a map made by a company that doesn't slurp all your data up. Google knows exactly where you have been.
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On the other hand, if you have collected the data for street view, then you can use it to find house numbers, shop names and so on and _really_ improve navigation.
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You can't have a self driving car that relies on recorded data, because recorded data will always be outdated. imagine they record a street, then a passenger crossing with a traffic light is added near a school, and the self-driving car, not aware of traffic lights and crossing crashes into a bunch of kids.
BETTER COME BACK TO Fort Lauderdale. FL. It's always reassuring when an UBER driver get's let in Security restricted Port Everglades when the address is well outside the Port boundaries.
Apple Maps vehicles equipped with LiDAR equipment have now surveyed at least 41 states in the United States, with recent areas including Maine and Iowa, as the fleet of vans continue to collect mapping data across the
Yada, yada, yada..... but they can't update my home location for months now. I have sent numerous site maps, roads, etc for the new development where I live. That being what it is, I cannot use geofencing in HomeKit because I can't set a home address. Not even a peep back from Apple.
This!
I've never had any MAJOR issues with Apple Maps....but hate the Google interface. I've used Waze, but simply because I was commuting 100 miles a day and like to drive really fast.
Now that I'm traveling more to different cities around the USA, I still use Waze since it is what I'm used to (and I like that the wife's voice guides me...hah)...but using CarPlay when it is in the rental car has never let me down.
They may be behind, but with all of this investment and a Lidar van driving down my little street, I expect Apple to do a major Maps release that will blow everyone away in one swoop.
But there will always be people who like to mention a continent incorrectly labeled in a first beta that was months before public release....give me a break.
I’m pretty happy with Apple Maps, and have found it much improved over time. However, the only actual comparison I’ve done recently is having AM up and running while using UConnect in my Dodge, and only then on a few occasions. The routing, estimated times, and traffic info were quite similar. My experience is that UConnect has a better method of displaying the upcoming exits, which comes in handy (for me) in unfamiliar urban areas. But AM integrates with my Apple Watch, which reduces my need to take my eyes completely off the road.
After reading the comments here and other AM threads, I find myself wondering how many folks expressing strong opinions have bothered to do meaningful comparisons between the apps. A few, for sure.
Even though I’ve tried both in the past, I’m curious about the current state of Google Maps and Waze. I wouldn’t mind using either one if it offers a sufficiently better experience than AM.
So it occurs to me that my having two iPhones (personal and company-issued), gives me an excellent opportunity to run two different mapping apps (or three, with UConnect) simultaneously, and thereby do a real-time comparison. I believe I’m going to give that a try.
After reading the comments here and other AM threads, I find myself wondering how many folks expressing strong opinions have bothered to do meaningful comparisons between the apps. A few, for sure.
Even though I’ve tried both in the past, I’m curious about the current state of Google Maps and Waze. I wouldn’t mind using either one if it offers a sufficiently better experience than AM.
So it occurs to me that my having two iPhones (personal and company-issued), gives me an excellent opportunity to run two different mapping apps (or three, with UConnect) simultaneously, and thereby do a real-time comparison. I believe I’m going to give that a try.
3-4 years of data and this summer being fast? there should be major updates with maps every year but doesnt seem to be. So summer is good for all the years of data they collected
I’m saying that with vans being spotted now in greater numbers, iOS 13 would be a better bet for a MAJOR release. There may be a nice update in iOS 12...maybe in a limited area??
I think the reasons many people have negative opinions of Apple maps are
A) They used Apple maps awhile ago and haven't used it much recently.
B) It's not on Android
or
C) People try to use it outside of the US.
I doubt Apple maps will ever reach the level of Google maps but I find Apple maps to be pretty good in the US now.
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