Apple is Officially Done Rebuilding its Maps in the US
upstart from IRC writes:
Apple is officially done rebuilding its maps in the US:
To say Apple Maps stumbled out of the gate is putting it mildly; it quickly became an internetpunchline when it launched in 2012, and left the company with the unenviable job of fixing it. Since then, Apple has been rebuilding the most fundamental part of the experience -- the base maps themselves -- and today the company says it's finally done. Well, in the United States, anyway.
Getting to this point was no small feat. It's been nearly a year and a half since Apple announced its plans, but even before that, a fleet of LIDAR-equipped vans was criss-crossing the United States to capture as much detailed location data as possible. To gather even more geographical context, Apple also captured map data from the air, though it's not clear how many planes the company employed for this work. While Apple wouldn't confirm any increases in budget or staff to make all of this possible, the company's investment in the project seems significant, and there's still more to come. The big push to re-map the United States is now officially done, but Apple has earmarked some of its LIDAR vans for maintenance runs -- that is, they'll continue to roam on roads to make sure that hard-won data remains up to date.
The end result is a more accurate set of maps that you might have already been looking at -- the company has been pushing them live around the country for at least the past six months. There are a few telltale signs to look out for if you're not sure: Coastlines are more accurately represented, as are buildings like airports and malls. When we reviewed iOS 13, we also noticed more nuanced street-level data; there were more street labels on-screen compared to Google Maps, and more streets had traffic direction indicators. That might not sound like a big deal, but it's really helpful when trying to orient yourself when you're emerging from the subway.
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