Apple Maps Vehicles to Survey France, Italy and Sweden in August

[deviant]

It'll crash the App Store, Apple Maps, display an error message for every user and loads in 5 seconds.

Based on Apple Music, at least

i'm beginning to think that all apple products are magical.. FOR ME. apple music hasn't failed me once. it is still stupid in the way that it's offering me "intro to [whatever]" even though I already have all their albums, but other than that it works flawlessly.

 

[big-ted]

Hope they have been using Google Maps while traveling through the East of England, the current Apple Maps are atrocious at the moment

 

[BornAgainMac]

I wonder if Samsung and Microsoft will drive their vans next. Every few years, it needs to be done again to include updated and higher quality scenery. In a couple of decades, you can go back and see what your city looked like in 2025.

 

[thekeyring]

with Apple Music



huh? where have u been lol does Apple Music ring a bell to u?

Yeah, but it was separate from iTunes Radio.

 

[bushido]

Yeah, but it was separate from iTunes Radio.

Not really...

Anyway OT

 

[deviant]

US, OK
But England, Ireland, France, and Sweden before Canada?
No iTunes Radio, ApplePay, Now Apple Maps.
Does Apple even know that Canada exists any more?

Yeah, and 200 other countries while we're at it. You're not special, Canada, get in line!

 

[draugminaion]

Every time I see this, I think to myself why?

If Google has already driven and is driving cars all around the world mapping streets, then why reinvent the wheel and do the same, unless somehow, you are going to do it better.

If Apple is going to do it better, what does better mean?

Higher rez images?
Cars will drive down the little alleyways that the google cars did not go down?

What is the point?

Not having to sell your privacy to get good stuff, as you need to do with Google, is something Apple is trying to offer.
"If you're getting stuff for free, you're not the customer, you're the product."

To do that Apple's stuff has to be good enough. Apple maps is now good enough for two thirds of iOS users, Apple wants it to be good enough for more than two thirds.
Google is constantly improving their stuff.
Apple has to at least improve just as fast.

 

[Imory]

US, OK
But England, Ireland, France, and Sweden before Canada?
No iTunes Radio, ApplePay, Now Apple Maps.
Does Apple even know that Canada exists any more?

It makes total sense for England and France to be ahead of Canada. Large markets in dense countries. I'm wondering if they're using Sweden because of the Flyover-based company they bought which was based in Sweden.

 

[thekeyring]

Not really...

Anyway OT

Again, it was separate from Apple Music. Now we have Apple Music, you can listen to streaming radio in loads more countries.

 

[Imory]

Imagine this is actually some massive conspiracy and they're actually testing drivetrains and tech for the fabled car project?

Oh oh, and the mapping is just creating and saving a LIDAR scan of streets so the car can more safely navigate.

Conspiracy? That's honestly what most people suspect they will eventually do. This won't solely be used for street-view, but also a stepping stone for future autonomous vehicles, provided they decide to actually do it.

 

[wiz329]

Every time I see this, I think to myself why?

If Google has already driven and is driving cars all around the world mapping streets, then why reinvent the wheel and do the same, unless somehow, you are going to do it better.

If Apple is going to do it better, what does better mean?

Higher rez images?
Cars will drive down the little alleyways that the google cars did not go down?

What is the point?

Same reason why Apple came out with Maps in the first place.

It was never *really* about doing anything "better". It was about not wanting to be dependent on a competitor.

Businesses reinvent the wheel (to a certain extent) all the time. That's why we have patent law, in part -- giving people a short-term incentive to share their knowledge. That's also why an open-source model is so powerful.

 

[gnasher729]

Every time I see this, I think to myself why?

If Google has already driven and is driving cars all around the world mapping streets, then why reinvent the wheel and do the same, unless somehow, you are going to do it better.

If Apple is going to do it better, what does better mean?

Higher rez images?
Cars will drive down the little alleyways that the google cars did not go down?

What is the point?

The point is that Google isn't going to give the data to Apple without Apple agreeing to a contract that will give Google things that Apple doesn't want to give to Google. (For example: Tons of money, plus all your data). It doesn't have to be better than Google's street view, although that doesn't hurt. But it will be a lot cheaper for Apple.

But let's put it the other way round. Google obviously cannot stop collecting these images, because they get outdated quite quickly - I had a very nice meal recently in a Greek restaurant in Germany that according to Google's street view had its windows and door boarded up. So since Apple is taking all these pictures, what is the point of Google doing it as well?

 

[gnasher729]

Wow, I would have thought they would have the US finished by now. They must have only 3 vans worldwide.

See this site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_road_network_size

According to them, the USA has a total of about four million miles of road. I'd think you need to cover it once a year for good quality views, and a single car can cover maybe 20,000 miles a year. So figure out how many cars you need. I'd say 200 covering the USA permanently. (On the other hand, a lot of the length of the road network is because of distances between towns, and there is probably a lot of road that is completely pointless to have in street view).

If Apple was aiming to bring out, for example, a driverless electric car, it wouldn't want to be reliant on Google Maps.

To be honest, I think a driverless car should rely on maps just as a car with driver relies on maps to find its destination easily and join the right roads, but in my opinion the driving itself shouldn't depend on any map data whatsoever. A driverless car should always drive where the road is (except in very unusual circumstances where a human driver would also leave the road), and not where some map says that the road is.

Hope they have been using Google Maps while traveling through the East of England, the current Apple Maps are atrocious at the moment

Could you give an example? (I can give one, where Apple Maps and TomTom take you on the same idiotic path). But really, why would they need any map to record street view images? I would expect that they have some software on board where the passenger presses a button every time he spots a left turn or right turn, and the software will systematically follow every road that exists, not just every road on the map.

 

[bandalay]

For those that use iOS devices, Apple Maps is killing Google Maps for access.

Running a maps product with street view, is about a 2 billion a year investment. Apple can afford it.

( Some great clarity on the subject here from Dediu http://www.asymco.com/2015/06/15/where-are-maps-going/ )

 

[SimonTheSoundMa]

I'm wondering why they are doing the West Midlands again?

 

[QuiteSharp]

Cool, it's nice to be among the first for once. I will be looking for the Apple van here in Stockholm then.

 

[Alenore]

i'm beginning to think that all apple products are magical.. FOR ME. apple music hasn't failed me once. it is still stupid in the way that it's offering me "intro to [whatever]" even though I already have all their albums, but other than that it works flawlessly.

You didn't use it a few days ago then when we had problems for like 3 days

 

[doelcm82]

Every time I see this, I think to myself why?

If Google has already driven and is driving cars all around the world mapping streets, then why reinvent the wheel and do the same, unless somehow, you are going to do it better.

If Apple is going to do it better, what does better mean?

Higher rez images?
Cars will drive down the little alleyways that the google cars did not go down?

What is the point?

I expect Apple to do street view better. Google will probably have more coverage, but Apple's version I think will be more of a 3D representation of the street, allowing you to see the store fronts from any angle, rather than Google's photo bubbles.

Google's method is like Quicktime VR in the 90s.

I suspect Google is also working on converting to 3D representation, but it will be harder for them to transition than it will be for Apple to do it from the start.

 

[avanpelt]

I just noticed that the van pictured in this post has an Apple Maps decal with the Maps URL on the window. That's pretty funny. And, in classic Apple fashion, the window decal is very minimalist as opposed to wrapping the entire car like some businesses do.

 

[avanpelt]

I expect Apple to do street view better. Google will probably have more coverage, but Apple's version I think will be more of a 3D representation of the street, allowing you to see the store fronts from any angle, rather than Google's photo bubbles.

Google's method is like Quicktime VR in the 90s.

I suspect Google is also working on converting to 3D representation, but it will be harder for them to transition than it will be for Apple to do it from the start.

It's kind of like the argument of T-Mobile vs. AT&T and Verizon in the U.S. Most people who use T-Mobile say it's better than AT&T and Verizon except where coverage is concerned. They love the price and the features but the coverage sucks in a whole lot of places. Same thing with whatever Apple is working on. It could be awesome but if there are a lot of holes in the coverage, it's going to be useless to a whole lot of people.

 

[iZac]

Imagine this is actually some massive conspiracy and they're actually testing drivetrains and tech for the fabled car project?

Conspiracy? That's honestly what most people suspect they will eventually do. This won't solely be used for street-view, but also a stepping stone for future autonomous vehicles, provided they decide to actually do it.

Aww, I'm always late to the party!

 

[doelcm82]

It's kind of like the argument of T-Mobile vs. AT&T and Verizon in the U.S. Most people who use T-Mobile say it's better than AT&T and Verizon except where coverage is concerned. They love the price and the features but the coverage sucks in a whole lot of places. Same thing with whatever Apple is working on. It could be awesome but if there are a lot of holes in the coverage, it's going to be useless to a whole lot of people.

"Useless" is a strong word. If it covers 80% of the places that you need to go, then it is useful in those 80% of places. And if it is better than Google's Streetview in those places, then people will use it.

I keep Google Maps on my phone as a backup, but I rarely use it any more.

 

[deviant]

You didn't use it a few days ago then when we had problems for like 3 days

i didn't.. i use it every day.

 

[gnasher729]

I'm wondering why they are doing the West Midlands again?

Because they haven't finished the first pass yet, maybe?

 

[Lankyman]

sacré bleu