Apple Maps

Bloomberg: Apple plans to use drones and new indoor navigation features to improve Maps

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 1, 2016

Apple is assembling a team of robotics and mapping experts that will use data-collecting drones to capture and update Maps information faster than its existing fleet of minivans that use cameras and other sensors to collect Maps data.

The company has reportedly hired at least one person from Amazon's Prime Air division to help run the drone team, which is being assembled in Seattle. In addition, Apple is working on a brand new indoor view in Maps.

Indoor features would use pressure sensors, GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in latest iPhones to let users easily navigate indoor areas such as airports, museums and other high-traffic buildings, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and Alan Levin reported Thursday.

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Apple granted a patent for augmented reality-enhanced maps and navigation on iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 8, 2016

We know from Tim Cook's remarks that Apple dabbled in virtual reality systems before deciding that augmented reality is the way to go. As opposed to virtual reality which completely immersed you in computer-generated environments, augmented reality overlays computer imagery on live video feed of the real world, enhancing or augmenting the images of your real-life surroundings.

Apple's latest patent award for augmented reality maps that surfaced today in the database of the United States Patent & Trademark Office underscores the company's commitment to augmented reality technologies.

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Apple Maps transit directions live for iOS 10.1 beta users in Japan ahead of launch

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 20, 2016

Apple is currently beta-testing the first major update to iOS 10 since its public release last month. Aside from a Portrait shooting mode for iPhone 7 Plus owners and a new toggle in Settings to allow Messages animations when Reduce Motion is enabled, the software update should bring official support for transit directions in Japan within the stock Maps application, Japanese blog Ata Distance said today.

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Apple to unify its separate cloud services teams to improve Siri, Maps, iTunes, iCloud & more

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 6, 2016

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman is reporting today that Apple is in the process of unifying its separate cloud services team in an effort to foster tighter collaboration between them, better compete with Google and Amazon in the cloud space and improve Siri, Maps, iTunes, iCloud and other services.

Eddy Cue, Apple's boss of Internet Software and Services, will oversee the effort to move cloud service engineering teams to a single campus as Apple continues shifting its cloud to its own infrastructure.

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Craig Federighi and Eddy Cue on learning from Maps debacle and improving the service

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 10, 2016

Monday, Fast Company interviewed CEO Tim Cook and other Apple executives, with Cook revealing that public iOS betas actually exist to help improve the Maps service, which was widely panned and ridiculed over egregious inaccuracies shortly after its September 2012 debut.

Today, the publication interviewed Eddy Cue, Apple's boss of Internet Software and Services, and Craig Federighi, who is Apple's chief of Software Engineering, on learning from Maps failures.

Here's what they had to say about improving Maps over the years.

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Apple Maps launches Traffic data in Greece

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 2, 2016

Real-time updates about vehicular traffic on Apple Maps have expanded to include Greece, home to population of eleven million people, according to an update posted on Apple’s iOS Feature Availability webpage. The latest expansion comes hot on the heels of launching public transit directions on Maps in Prague earlier in the week.

Traffic data on Apple Maps is currently available in about three dozen countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, China, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, South Africa, Spain, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Denmark and more.

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Apple Maps Transit directions launch in Prague

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 1, 2016

Apple customers in Prague, Czech Republic, can now use the firm's stock Maps app on an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Mac to take into account local transit directions when planning their routes. Apple Maps transit data just launched in Prague with support for the city's busses and trams and the Prague Metro and Esko Prague commuter rail.

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Much-enhanced parking space information comes to Apple Maps courtesy of Parkopedia

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 28, 2016

Finding a parking lot in your area has gotten a whole lot easier with an announcement this morning from parking service company Parkopedia that its detailed parking data is now being used by Apple Maps across North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Parkopedia offers detailed information on more than 40 million parking spaces in 75 countries and Maps users on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch can now view detailed information about parking garages and lots around the world.

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Apple Maps expands Flyover coverage, adds Traffic/Transit data for multiple locales

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Flyover, a three-dimensional birds-eye view in Apple Maps, is now available in an additional thirty cities and popular tourist destinations in the United States and around the world. In addition, Transit and Traffic data in Maps is now available in several new cities.

Flyover takes advantage of a fleet of airplanes that photograph points of interest from multiple angles. These photos are then used to derive depth information from them to recreate buildings, landmarks and other objects in 3D space.

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