Apple Plans to Use Data-Collecting Drones in Order to 'Catch Up' With Google Maps

[Tech198]

Perhaps the idea, Maps is not the only thing Apple has to catch up on.....

It's almost as if Apple knows how to make great products and only releases them when they get it right first time, but the same cannot be said about services... This is where Google wins.. so makes sense Apple must play 'catch-up'

 

[macduke]

According to current rules, Apple's drone fleet would be restricted from flying over people and buildings…

So their mapping drone can't fly over people or buildings. Got it.

…and could only be flown by licensed pilots. One of the pilots is said to have already been hired from Amazon's fledgling Prime Air program, and they will join the Apple Maps drone team at its base in Seattle, Washington.

If only I had known as a kid that if I would have continued improving my R.C. skills that I would be in high demand as a pilot for the biggest tech companies. I never thought about it, but I bet all the R.C. club people who did this as a hobby for years are getting really excited about all of these developments, lol.

 

[DoctorDoctor]

I'm sorry but if you need your iPhone to navigate the interior of an airport...you are just useless and sad. There are things called signs that have worked for hundreds of years. If people looked away from their phones for five minutes they might learn how to move from room to room.

And don't bother telling me Airports are hard to navigate...I've been to many Airports all over the world and in the US. I've never had a problem finding my way. They are not hay mazes.

Do you use Apple or Google Maps for navigation when driving ? I mean, paper maps have been used for decades and there are signs all over the place to help people get to their location.

 

[dominiongamma]

They have their issues we can all be honest with that. But imo they still make the best hardware with software despite their recent setbacks.

Actually they are behind in both and playing catch up now
[doublepost=1480602405][/doublepost]

When you're no longer an Apple customer, will you still come here to moan?

He isn't a sheep that will follow Apple off a cliff, it's sad to see people support Apple even when they do things wrong.

 

[Zaft]

I actually use 3 services.

Apple maps transit widget for train times and location of my car which I love.
Google maps for POIs and street view
Waze for actual driving navigation.

They all serve a purpose.

 

[mi7chy]

So things like directions and traffic are less important than looking at a photo of the rooftop of a building?

Proof that Apple is still working on a flying car since you'll need rooftop view to navigate. Street view is only useful for legacy ground based car navigation.

 

[chazcron]

I use Apple maps by default, as it is integrated into IOS for directions. I often have to cross reference using Google maps for Streetview to get my bearings. Drones will not help Apple get their Streetview version to beta, and that is what is sorely lacking. I love the Flyover feature, and if drones will help spread the love to more areas of the world, that would be great, too. Google's 3D view is coarser and not integrated on IOS, but seems like it is gaining ground on Apple.

 

[jscooper22]

Designed by Johnny Ives, the drones will need 10.12.1 to upload flight plans and require a propeller adapter to fly.

 

[lazyrighteye]

Sorry, but I have to. "iDrone?"

iEye.
Couldn't resist.

 

[gluckett]

Apple doesn't need drones. What they need is to pay for up-to-date satellite imagery like Google does. This would be a pretty bad situation if Apple were a tiny start-up with limited capital. But it's sad and embarrassing that the world's largest company by market cap is too stingy to pay for current satellite images.

In downtown Miami, for example, Apple Maps still shows numerous city blocks as parking lots where we now have high rise condos, hotels, and retail developments (one of which will soon host Apple's largest store in Florida.) Some of these satellite images are over five years old.

Example:

Here are Google's and Apple's map views of the Met3 building completed two years ago:

Have you tried it on maps on the desktop? I had similar issues with some places on the iOS version of Apple Maps, but the imagery on the desktop was obviously newer and was up to date. I reported the problem through Maps on iOS and it was updated shortly after reporting it....

 

[Zandery]

I welcome the use of drones as frankly, using Apple Maps is a dreadful experience for accuracy in London (and the South East). Google Maps all the way.

When I was last in LA, I got majorly lost using Apple Maps and when I finally got to my destination I realised I was on the wrong street a block over but Apple Maps had told me I was on the right route and constantly walking past it.

 

[mytdave]

Apple, why don't you start with just getting the roads right?

Where I live, there is a newly constructed (about 1 year ago) major state highway that still doesn't appear in Apple Maps, but Google has it. It's fun to watch the position indicator show us traveling rapidly through the "middle of nowhere" when we drive it.

 

[dominiongamma]

Apple, why don't you start with just getting the roads right?

Where I live, there is a newly constructed (about 1 year ago) major state highway that still doesn't appear in Apple Maps, but Google has it. It's fun to watch the position indicator show us traveling rapidly through the "middle of nowhere" when we drive it.

Why I don't trust Apple with maps and never will. Apple should have stuck with google maps instead of trying to inflate their egos by having their own maps.

 

[A-Sign]

Oh, yes! Let's burn money for something that is already available with greater quality: Google Maps.

 

[TurboPGT!]

Bezel-less Iphone. Awesome maps. Dark mode.


2017 is going to be an awesome year

I suppose it would be, if there were any actual customers who cared about these things.

It's a tech blog thing. Not a real world thing. In the real world people get where they're going with Maps, and don't know what bezels are.

 

[ccurzio]

I'm sorry but if you need your iPhone to navigate the interior of an airport...you are just useless and sad. There are things called signs that have worked for hundreds of years. If people looked away from their phones for five minutes they might learn how to move from room to room.

Sounds like you shouldn't be using any kind of GPS application on your phone. I'm sorry, but if you need your iPhone to navigate streets and highways, you are just useless and sad. There are things made of paper called "maps" that have worked for hundreds of years. If you looked away from your phone for five minutes you might learn how to navigate from one place to another.

Not only that, streets and highways have other things called "signs" which you've already said are the navigation tool of choice.

 

[hifismith]

When Apple announced Maps they said they'd collect anonymous data from iPhone users to get traffic conditions. What happened to that plan? Why are there minivans driving around?

 

[moonjelly]

How about both? Satellites are good at mass data collection but can't do some of what's described in the article.

Agreed. People are totally missing [intentionally?] the part about lane and sign information. This is about verbal directions that match what the driver sees.

All the mapping and navigation software has room for improvement. Alternate routes, instead of getting better, are constantly dumbed down. An advantage a big old paper map still has is in discovering out of the way places, back routes, and general exploring. Lots of other examples.

 

[Carlanga]

Bezel-less Iphone. good enough to use maps. Dark mode.


2017 is going to be an awesome year

fixed that for you
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When Apple announced Maps they said they'd collect anonymous data from iPhone users to get traffic conditions. What happened to that plan? Why are there minivans driving around?

minivans are for mapping, user data is for traffic.

 

[oneMadRssn]

Apple's map UI with Google's data would be a nice merge. Google's map UI has become a complete FUBAR on both their web and native apps.

I completely agree. While the data is great, the package it is wrapped in is awful.

 

[Thunderhawks]

I'm sorry but if you need your iPhone to navigate the interior of an airport...you are just useless and sad. There are things called signs that have worked for hundreds of years. If people looked away from their phones for five minutes they might learn how to move from room to room.

And don't bother telling me Airports are hard to navigate...I've been to many Airports all over the world and in the US. I've never had a problem finding my way. They are not hay mazes.

LOL, I was also wondering why I would need to know what the inside of buildings look like.

It's not as if we are buying these places, like with real estate walk throughs one can do online.

Google UI is a mess trying to do too many things at once.

Maps despite "being behind" has so far been better to use for me.

 

[JesterJJZ]

People actually use Apple Maps?

 

[gluckett]

When Apple announced Maps they said they'd collect anonymous data from iPhone users to get traffic conditions. What happened to that plan? Why are there minivans driving around?

They are doing it. If you look in settings:

 

[jetjaguar]

It's crazy with all the money Apple has they're always playing catch up to everyone.

yup ... they should just buy updated map data like google does

 

[gluckett]

People actually use Apple Maps?

Sure do.