Apple takes Maps & # 39; at the next level & # 39; in iOS 12



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Not content with the uneven coverage of Apple Maps since its launch in 2012, Apple revealed Friday that it will begin limited first-round card data in the upcoming beta of iOS 12 , expanding this coverage as you go.

  Apple Releases Data

The deployment of the first phase of next week will cover only San Francisco and the rest of the Bay Area, extending to northern California in the fall and at the rest of the United States the following year. ] TechCrunch . To obtain the necessary data, the company did first-hand collections using iPhones and Apple Maps vehicles that roamed cities around the world.

At some point, each version of iOS will see the new maps. Apple also hopes to be faster on the draw with the road and build changes, and make the application graphics more visually detailed, depending on the context. This may include foliage improvement, swimming pools, walking trails and vegetation cover.

The effort would have been ongoing for four years, with the ultimate goal of completely exorcising third-party data. The tangle of third-party sources that Apple has used up to now has sometimes been blamed for the flaws of Google Maps

"We wanted to move to another level," said Eddy Cue, senior vice president of software and Internet services at Apple. . "We have been working on trying to create what we hope to be the best map application in the world, going to the next step, that is, building all our own map data from scratch. "

the moment corrections and updates must pass submission and validation, but Cue said that the company will soon be able to edit anything in Maps in real time and even more frequently .

who have been on the streets since 2015. Each is equipped with GPS, eight cameras and four LiDAR sensors, as well as a device attached to a rear wheel that ensures proper recording of distance and images . Inside is a Mac Pro bolted to the ground, in turn connected to an assortment of SSD drives for storage and a dashboard-mounted iPad, where card capture software works.

Each driver is accompanied by an operator who ensures that the necessary routes are covered and that the images are collected correctly. In addition to the images, the vans create 3D point clouds.

After a full run, the data is saved on SSDs, which are removed, packaged in an enclosure, and delivered to an Apple data center where software is used. strip private information such as faces and license plates. The vans and the data center have their own encryption keys.

Apple is also counting on its millions of iPhone customers to passively and actively improve data, while trying to anonymize and dissect the collection in ways that preserve privacy.

"We do not collect data, even from point A to point B," says Cue. "We collect data – when we do it – anonymously, in subsections from the set, so we can not even say that there is a person who goes from point A to point B. We collect the segments As you can imagine, this has always been a key element in achieving this goal: Honestly, we do not think it buys us something [to collect more] We do not lose any functionality or ability by doing that. "

Enhance content, iPhone and van data are combined with high-resolution satellite imagery and computer vision analysis to detect addresses , traffic signs and points of interest. This is cross-checked with public data, including construction projects of urban planning services. Point clouds and images are used to identify signs, tracks, and other objects that can be assigned to different categories.

A special team from Apple is developing a toolkit that will be used by hundreds of human publishers to further investigate street data. This includes the correct assignment of 3D geometry to objects for hovering and adjusting the precise location of the addresses to match the entries.

"When we bring you into a business and that activity exists, we think we are accurate, take you to, to be in the right building," Cue noted. "When you look at places like San Francisco or the big cities from that point of view, you have addresses where the name of the address is a certain street, but in reality, the entrance to the building is in another street, that's the kind of things that our new maps really will shine on: we'll make sure we get you to exactly the right place, not a place that could be very close. "

The executive added that people should not expect to see a massive visual overhaul, at least in the near future.

"You are not going to see huge design changes on maps, to combine these two things at the same time because that would cause a lot of confusion," he said.

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