“Apple may be preparing a big update to its Maps application for iOS and OS X. San Francisco’s KPIX reported earlier today that a Dodge Caravan sporting an impressive array of cameras has been spotted roaming the area,” Mike Beasley reports for 9to5Mac.
“The California DMV confirmed that the vehicle (seen in the photos above and below, via Claycord) was leased to Apple,” Beasley reports. “[It’s possible that] Apple is preparing to take on Google’s Street View with a similar offering in its own Maps software.”
“If Apple is truly preparing a Street View feature for Maps, it’s possible that we might see it in the iOS 9 upgrade that should debut later this year, if the company maintains its annual upgrade cycle. If that’s the case, the feature will likely only support a few major cities at launch (such as New York and San Francisco, where the vans were spotted),” Beasley reports. “It’s also possible that the feature may not be included until a later version of iOS, depending on how long Apple wants to spend collecting data before launch. The Maps application was notoriously buggy at launch, and Apple hasn’t been at the top of its software game lately, so a taking a little extra time to polish this new feature may be in order.”
Photos and videos in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Enderle is a moron.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz,” “Dan K.,” and “Dominick P.” for the heads up.]
I hope this is true. I want to be “all in” with Apple maps. I like it better than google maps. But Street view is a very useful feature for me. So I use it when needed, but have always felt that Apple should be spending some of that big pile of cash on something like street view, to make their maps service more complete.
CBS SF is reporting that braindead Enderle reports, “Technology analyst Rob Enderle said number of cameras on the apparatus leads his to believe it is a self-driving test vehicle, not a mapping car. “Too many cameras,” said Enderle. “It has cameras that are angled down at all four corners of the vehicle.””
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/02/03/mystery-van-could-be-apples-entry-in-effort-to-develop-self-driving-vehicle/
presently the lead story on Drudge…Rob is convulsing in glee.
I’m surprised Enderle was able to pull his head out of his ass long enough to look at the picture.
LOL, Hand Enderle a hammer and he hits himself in the head. How does this guy make it through each and every day?
Without major injury? That is a mystery.
No, Chaz said he’d hit himself in the head. That’s how he’d avoid major injury.
He’s got ObamaCare, he will be okay.
Maybe they’ll integrate it with the existing 3d option to increase the detail of images that can’t be extrapolated from overhead images.
I have started to use Maps for directions with pretty good success. I have been using Navigon for multiple years but am giving Maps a try.
In general, I like the interface and it works with Siri.
I’ve been using Apple Maps since day one for driving directions and it has never steered me wrong.
If Rob Enderle say its so it must be so.
“The California DMV confirmed that the vehicle (seen in the photos above and below, via Claycord) was leased to Apple…”
This type of information is available to the press from a government agency?
The California DMV is a part of the Moonbeam Marxist Regime in Californication.
oh yeah, forgot.
I think the van is following the tech anal-it’s around to determine where they get their drugs. Coming soon on unreality TV, check your listings. /s. 😀
Enderle is just trying to help throw us off the sense. lol, accidentally, that is.
scent. edit.
Apple, please stop copying all of Google’s stupid projects. Just fix maps and cooperate with DDG to improve it to the point where google search can be totally retired.
“Enderle said that this van simply has too many cameras (a whopping twelve of them) to be a mapping car—though he failed to note that Google uses even more cameras on its own Street View cars.”
Jeezus, what a fucking moron.