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Tuesday, March 12, 2013, 08:44 pm
Apple adds iOS Maps Flyover support, 3D buildings, turn-by-turn navigation in multiple cities
Apple has been quietly updating its much maligned iOS Maps app over the past weeks, adding Flyover support for 15 new cities, while updating 3D building rendering, turn-by-turn navigation, points of interest and other tweaks for many others.As reported by The Loop, Apple is continually updating its mapping service and has recently added a number of new cities that support the company's proprietary 3D Flyover view.
Flyover view of Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany.
New cities to offer Flyover support:
- Modesto, CA
- Stockton, CA
- Indianapolis, IN
- Baltimore, MD
- Minneapolis, MN
- Portland, ME
- Albany, NY
- Buffalo, NY
- Cleveland, OH
- Tulsa, OK
- Providence, RH
- Green Bay, WI
- Vancouver, BC
- Cologne, Germany
- Glasgow, Scotland
Expanded Flyover coverage in cities with existing support:
- Birmingham, AL
- Boston, MA
- Portland, OR
- Houston, TX
- Toronto, ON
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- London, England
- Lyon, France
- Berlin, Germany
- Munich, Germany
- Rome, Italy
- Barcelona, Spain
- Madrid, Spain
- Stockholm, Sweden
In addition to the enhanced Flyover support, Apple has extended 3D building renderings for locations that do not yet have access to the feature.
Apple also updated a number of Chinese assets, including a new coloring scheme, Chinese character readability, point of interest tweaks, and road network changes. Other improvements include expanded international points of interest with new iconography and more accurate address data.
It was reported in February that job listings pointed to ongoing development of Apple's mapping platform, with hires including software engineers and, more recently, fact checkers.
The company is working hard to rectify a shaky launch in September 2012 that drew the ire of users around the world, who complained of multiple inaccuracies, poor implementation of the Flyover feature and various usability issues. Compounding the problem was Apple's decision to ditch Google Maps, which powered iOS Maps until iOS 6, a move that left iOS device users without familiar features like Google's Street View and public transit times.
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Previous Comments View All
Seeing Modesto and Stockton on the list makes me wonder how they are assigning priority to Maps improvements.
Yay, Vancouver. Going to check it out later.
Seeing Modesto and Stockton on the list makes me wonder how they are assigning priority to Maps improvements.
It's probably based on what data they can get that's clean. Modesto and Stockton are probably some of the bigger cities in Ca they still have left to do. Who knows?
When will OS X have access I wonder?
Alright, Flyover takes time and whatnot. Fair enough. Generally however, there are many places around the world where the maps are almost blank. Forget flyover and complete your data first. Start with street names for example. And please do this while people still care.
Apple maps is infintly better than google maps (via web).
I cannot comment on the google map app on the iDevice, but I don't care as this shit will never get past the tighest quality control out there, thats me.
Based on the UI from past uses of google, I can be 100% certain that its rubbish.
Apple maps work fine for me, and it will only get better over time.
Where are the whiners when google first released their map app ? Where are you ? I can smell you but not see you ? Please come out and play.
I noticed that many, many more cities already have the outlines of 3D buildings. I've just checked Boston and Washington DC to confirm I didn't just imagine it.
Alright, Flyover takes time and whatnot. Fair enough. Generally however, there are many places around the world where the maps are almost blank. Forget flyover and complete your data first. Start with street names for example. And please do this while people still care.
Flyover and improving map data can be done completely independently, I doubt they're taking time from one to work on the other. Mapping the architecture from the sky has nothing to do with sourcing better data. I have no doubt their primary focus on maps is improving the data further.
Alright, Flyover takes time and whatnot. Fair enough. Generally however, there are many places around the world where the maps are almost blank. Forget flyover and complete your data first. Start with street names for example. And please do this while people still care.
Where? Where are "many places around the world where the maps are almost blank?" I would like a list.
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Wow, alot of new cities. Bash it all you want, but I love flyover. It's impressive each and everytime I use it. It will get even better as the power RAM of these devices increases, and bandwidth goes up.