Apple Rumored to Take on Google's 3D Maps with Superior Technology

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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It’s looking more and more like Apple has purchased the Swedish 3D mapping company, C3, according to reports. For some time now, Apple has been purchasing several mapping companies, fueling speculation that at some point Apple would challenge Google in mapping technology.
 
That's pretty impressive stuff. I remember NASA's world wind being amazing when I saw it in my Geography/Cartography courses.

They've already released an SDK to developers... I wonder if Apple is going to cause problems for those devs.
 
OH and this 3d map is new it's fricking google earth witht he 3d terrain and buildings turned on that i use all the time on my windows desktop and android tablet in 3d why are they showing this in a video?
 
Cube said:
OH and this 3d map is new it's fricking google earth witht he 3d terrain and buildings turned on that i use all the time on my windows desktop and android tablet in 3d why are they showing this in a video?
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Wut
 
Thata amazing!

At 3:20 when they are panning across San Francisco.... I had a job in SF and once took my rental car across the golden gate bridge to that small island. Beat the shit out of my rental on those mountain roads. It was awesome!
 
unless it's free, it will not be a challenge to Google
and somehow I doubt Apple will be giving away anything for free
 
Anyone notice that the iPad version when he moved one building over it had a "blank" green part that had to redraw what was there, but with the Galaxy tab it didn't have "blank" areas until it zoomed out to the city view?
 
sfsuphysics said:
Anyone notice that the iPad version when he moved one building over it had a "blank" green part that had to redraw what was there, but with the Galaxy tab it didn't have "blank" areas until it zoomed out to the city view?
Click to expand...
yeah, i noticed that too.

Anyway, awesomeness.
 
Thund3rb1rd said:
unless it's free, it will not be a challenge to Google
and somehow I doubt Apple will be giving away anything for free
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This.

"The new, groundbreaking mapping techjnology APPLE has been working on for a decade... iMap."
*crowd breaks into waves of herps and derps*
 
So apple is buying technology that is other wise already world wide accessable and making it only usable on the iplatform.

Hate when companies do this. Its not even that amazing, it just looks cool. I'll probably still end up using google maps if this doesn't end up being iOS only.
 
Google > Apple. Apple is running tough though, as much as I hate their overpriced goods... they are slightly pushing technology faster than it normally would, I would say.

Google is the clear leader though, these days.... they are one notch above Apple in my eyes.

This is good for everyone who uses digital maps, so I don't see how or why one would complain...... everyone uses Google Maps and Google Earth(companies espec). I agree, unless its free... googlemaps will remain the clear leader.
 
Oh, and I thought Google used 3rd party companies for their maps, depending on where you were looking it would display the company Google gets the localized map from (in white letters near the bottom)

So how are they competing against google? If anything, Apple could buy out the companies Google uses, and then deny google servers access to the digital maps they would now own, right?
 
More recently, Apple filed an application entitled "Augmented Reality Maps" for an invention that would overlay data such as directions or street names in real time on top of live video.
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Can they do this? I've see a lot of real time video overlaid maps for years now.
 
What would be very kick ass in Flight Simulator. Seems fast enough. Wouldn't take much as planes don't fly fast enough to need to load scenery that fast. I love what FSX has done so far (and the newer, unreleased version), but put this in it and there would be NO competition in the flight simulator market. Hell, even put it in one of the open source simulators and take Microsoft Flight Sim off the map.

That looks very very nice. I can't wait to see the final product!
 
Thund3rb1rd said:
unless it's free, it will not be a challenge to Google
and somehow I doubt Apple will be giving away anything for free
Click to expand...

Free, probably not.. but... bundled with Apple iPods, iPhones and iMacs/iLaptops; yes? Apple's goal in having the superior mapping software would be to give you one less-reason to buy a superior google android phone and buy their inferior device. Magical maps!!
 
Anyone else think when watching this, that Rockstar should almost lisence this technology/data for use in GTAIV. Some of those 3D models/photo realistic graphics were fairly impressive.
 
WBurchnall said:
Anyone else think when watching this, that Rockstar should almost lisence this technology/data for use in GTAIV. Some of those 3D models/photo realistic graphics were fairly impressive.
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Thinking the same thing too, which they will believe me. But not only that, this will definitely change things for architects, animators, and dozens of other professions which rely on 3d city mapping software.
 
I don't care who owns it. If it improves the technology, and moves the ball forward, then its a good thing. Innovation should never be frowned upon unless its uses are nefarious or have the potential for it. This is a wonderful thing.

That

And it'll give Apple lawyers something new to sue people with. If we can save just one lawyers job, isn't it worth it?
 
im impressed with their presumed ability to source multiple angles with different shadows, seasons, and daylight to generate a picture. maybe the time stamps and shadows might be integral to rendering a 3d view.
 
Looks neat.

Maybe Apple finally realized they need some sort of map/gps software for the iphone that actually works worth a crap? In the 4+ years I used iphones, Apple made no effort to provide a usable navigation app that didn't require a passenger to hit "next" and read the directions to me. With my android phone it has a usable navigation app that doesn't require a co-pilot to operate for me. Yeah, I could have paid for an app in the iphone, or rooted it and installed a pirated app, but google just includes a decent one for free.

So if apple does finally release a decent map/nav app using this awesome looking technology, how long until it has more than a few major metropolitan areas included and how much data is it going to use on the cellular network for all of that?
 
Mapping tech advancements always excites me, probably more then anything else. I remember when I first saw online maps, then satellite maps, then Google street view, etc... each new step is just full of awesome :)

Yes, folks might've missed Bing's video demo from a few years ago, where realtime video was displayed overlayed their 3d reconstructed street view.
 
Trimlock said:
So apple is buying technology that is other wise already world wide accessable and making it only usable on the iplatform.

Hate when companies do this. Its not even that amazing, it just looks cool. I'll probably still end up using google maps if this doesn't end up being iOS only.
Click to expand...

What do you think Google did with Google Music? http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/20/go...ower-music-syncing-for-new-itunes-competitor/ or Keyhole,Endoxon and Where2 for Google Maps/Earth? Sure it technically is available on multiple platforms they definitely cripple it on non Google devices on purpose. This is just something big companies do. If you can't build quickly or its something you don't specialize in buy.
 
I fail to see the usefulness, personally. Turn by turn navigation is great for when you're in the car but you're not going to be panning around a 3D city in the car. Like Google Earth, this will have some novelty value when you're sitting at your desk wasting time panning around cities but otherwise (for figuring out how to find a location) ... Google can already do that, and do that very well. Between street view and regular mapping Google is very helpful in helping find me the places I want to go. What else would this tech, owned by apple, actually offer? In other words ... how is a pretty 3D aerial picture going to help me get from A to B?
 
landmarks. it's sometimes easier to glance at a map from your prospective to see which direction you should go instead of just relying on a 2d view. Its kind of similar to the road view is good on maps because you can remember to look for a Arco sign instead of scanning all over the road looking for Williams street.
 
WBurchnall said:
Free, probably not.. but... bundled with Apple iPods, iPhones and iMacs/iLaptops; yes? Apple's goal in having the superior mapping software would be to give you one less-reason to buy a superior google android phone and buy their inferior device. Magical maps!!
Click to expand...

Apple is becoming quite the "me too!" company.
 
Apple will end up winning this battle once they sucessfully trademark the word "map".
 
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