AppleInsider Staff
As part of continued effort to build out its in-house mapping service, Apple recently added 3D Flyover assets to a number of cities and landmarks, including multiple locations in France, Italy and Germany.
After flipping the switch on 20 new Flyover-supported areas prior to iOS 9's debut this month, Apple added to the list this week, offering top-down 3D views of major cities and high-traffic destinations.
Flyover support recently added to Apple's official iOS 9 Feature Availability webpage:
- Angers, France
- Carcassonne, France
- Florence, Italy
- Genoa, Italy
- Gold Coast, Australia
- Lugo, Spain
- Mannheim, Germany
- Mexicali, Mexico
- Murcia, Spain
- Nagasaki, Japan
- Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- Parma, Italy
- Pavia, Italy
- Sanremo, Italy
- Shizuoka, Japan
- St. Louis, Missouri
- Stuttgart, Germany
- Tijuana, Mexico
Apple positions 3D Flyover as a tentpole Apple Maps feature, one that sets the service apart from competitors like Google Maps. To realize Apple Maps' 3D functionality, Apple overlays high-resolution imagery atop three-dimensional digital models of structures, landmarks and other notable features in a given landscape. Apple Maps also offers guided Flyover city tours for major metropolitan cities and tourist destinations like London, Paris and New York.
In bringing its mapping service in line with the competition, Apple introduced native transit directions with its latest iOS 9 update, a much requested feature for many existing users. While availability is limited to a few cities at launch, support for buses, subways, trains and other public transportation services should roll out to a wider audience in the coming months.
Looking to the future, Apple is currently gathering street-level imaging and positioning data with mapping vans, suggesting the company is working on a competitor to Google Street View. Apple's equipment-laden vans have most recently been spotted tooling around U.S. and UK neighborhoods.
Apple last updated Flyover in August with a buildout of services in Europe, South America and Asia.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Wesley Hilliard
24 Comments
So they include the Gold coast (pop ~600,000) but not Brisbane (only 30km away and pop ~2million)!
I don't understand what purpose flyover is supposed to serve. Does anyone actually use it? If so could you talk about how it helps?
Looking forward to seeing the outcomes of whatever they're capturing with their vans. There's been a fleet of them parked up at night near where I work just outside London for months now.
It's very handy if you are looking at buying or renting a property. Often it saves a wasted journey. Say you are looking for block of land to build on but it turned out its on a very steep slope and is not to suitable. It's quiet good at helping you pick up the "vibe" of a street. Some structures which can be a total mystery from straight above, are revealed when using flyover. I use it quiet a bit. I wish it would let you view the horizon though. Do I miss street view? Sure do,but I find I only use street view about 10% of the time now as flyover answers most questions I have that 2D maps can't. Here's hoping Apple combines their own version of street view with flyover for a seamless, intuitive experience.
They add flyover to places no one cares about but here in the US they won't add a new road I informed them about 6 months ago.