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Maps is already improving?

Brazuca said:
I see what they did. The "3D" building shapes are basically a raised footprint of any of the ground buildings. On your pictures, you can see that the little "houses" on the right image create a full-height 3D model.

Too much automation, I guess.

It would be nice to have some transparency. Maybe as an option?
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This is clear to see when looking at the mini Eiffel Tower. Its the area of the base raised to the height of the top.

What's interesting is that this is now just available in beta 2 the same day that beta 3 dropped. Was it lurking in b2 waiting to be turned on? I don't know, Margo.
 
i'm definitely liking the improvements that have been made over the last 4 weeks or so to apple maps.

still lags a good deal behind what i already have on iOS5, but at least changes are being made and detail is being added.

i still believe this is a step backward, but hopefully it is before 2 steps forward.

hopefully someone in charge of Apple Maps had a fire lit under his butt when he saw the initial impressions of it.
 
applebro24 said:
This is clear to see when looking at the mini Eiffel Tower. Its the area of the base raised to the height of the top.

What's interesting is that this is now just available in beta 2 the same day that beta 3 dropped. Was it lurking in b2 waiting to be turned on? I don't know, Margo.
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I don't think these "tiles" are based on what is on the phone. they must be layers that are added/activated from the server, that depend on current views and settings. #justguessing #thisisnottwitter
 
And it just keeps getting weirder and weirder...

Now there are additional buildings in the standard 3D mode that were not previously available, yet they do not appear in satellite mode 3D. And vice versa. These pics are from Vegas showing my office building and the casino across the street. Both of which are and are not in 3D...
 

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I wonder that the process is to add these models. I remember a while ago on Google Maps you could submit your Sketchup model as a 3D building model (this was when Google bought Sketchup). I don't know how much of Google's 3D models were hand-drawn or automagically generated. Maybe Apple is repeating that process?
 
applebro24 said:
And it just keeps getting weirder and weirder...

Now there are additional buildings in the standard 3D mode that were not previously available, yet they do not appear in satellite mode 3D. And vice versa. These pics are from Vegas showing my office building and the casino across the street. Both of which are and are not in 3D...
Click to expand...

The building across from you looks like a parking structure, with a rooftop parking level. Maybe this confuses the SuperAwesome 3D Generator tech and makes it think this is street level? I don't know what is up with the others.
 
applebro24 said:
And it just keeps getting weirder and weirder...

Now there are additional buildings in the standard 3D mode that were not previously available, yet they do not appear in satellite mode 3D. And vice versa. These pics are from Vegas showing my office building and the casino across the street. Both of which are and are not in 3D...
Click to expand...

Maybe this could be a result of using so much different maps data from so many sources? Using Tom-Tom, Bing, Poly3, Yelp, and dozens of other GPS sources. I would imagine it would be a nightmare trying to patch all that data together.

Google does it all in-house, one source. That's a page out of Apple's book
 
BuckeyeMac said:
Is there a way to shrink down or remove completely, that ugly green box with turn distance? I want to see the map not a fugly sign.

I'd rather listen to the turn than that.

And what does turn by turn look like in landscape?

Thanks
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See above since no one has answered still
 
With these additional 3D building being visible once added to the maps server, you get a little insight into how Apple adds new mapped territory. From the attached pics, you can see that Apple will release the 3D shape of the building first before the satellite 3D version is ready. Also, the added 3D buildings are released in large chucks of the city, not individual buildings as you can see that some the building shapes are cut down the middle. This is not a loading error, the 3D mapping just stops at a certain distance from downtown.
 

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Mad Mac Maniac said:
Google does it all in-house, one source. That's a page out of Apple's book
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They dont. They acquire satellite data, just like Apple. In fact, a few months ago, Google changed their maps provider in my area and since then, the satellite imagery is worse, a lot. You could even see the copyrigth information, from whom Google acquired the data. Today, it only says "Google 2012", back then it didn't.
 
There are definitely improvements but I still think Google's maps are more usable...
 

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Something I've noticed with Beta 4 is that there are a million POI's now on the screen.

Check out New York City if you want to see what I mean.
 
One step forwards, two steps back in this update for me.

Beta 3 added aerial photography to my area that wasn't just a mess of pixels, and Beta 4 adds two further levels of zoom (that have much nicer color) though it's still nowhere near as good as Google.

Beta 4 made the fonts huge now though (edit: this is now a preference) and it isn't showing me as many local points of interest without zooming in. (shops, cafes, train stations, petrol stations, hospitals etc.)

Google is still much clearer about things like main roads, motorways etc. but Apple's getting there.

I think that it's going to end up being better on the Standard view when they're done, but worse on Hybrid/Satellite.
 
Could someone post a satellite or hybrid screenshot of Bucknell University and/or River Edge NJ
 
Wow, Beta 4 has like 10 times more POIs showing up in Cologne, Germany! This is great. Also the street labels are a little bigger and easier to read. And last but not least, there are finally buildings showing up.
 
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