An Anonymous Coward writes:
For years Google Maps has offered Street View, giving viewers a street level glimpse into far away destinations.
Word on the street (no pun intended!) is that Apple is sending out vehicles to photograph various locales in Ireland, UK, and the United States, with the imagery being used in their Apple Maps application.
In the US, Apple will be driving around parts of Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Texas, Utah, and Washington state.
In Ireland, Apple will map the greater Dublin area. For the UK, street mapping will be done in Essex, Greater London, Kent, and Birmingham.
Apple's page states:
[...] Apple is driving vehicles around the world to collect data which will be used to improve Apple Maps. Some of this data will be published in future Apple Maps updates.
[...] We are committed to protecting your privacy while collecting this data. For example, we will blur faces and license plates on collected images prior to publication.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday June 13 2015, @04:42AM
The rumor mill thought it might be Apple testing out autonomous cars...
http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/02/06/apples-mysterious-vans-are-almost-certainly-for-3d-mapping-not-autonomous-driving [appleinsider.com]
http://www.wired.com/2015/02/apple-self-driving-car/ [wired.com]
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/14/us-apple-autos-idUSKBN0LI0IJ20150214 [reuters.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by Gertlex on Saturday June 13 2015, @05:15AM
The rumor mill ignored anyone noting that the equipment on the vans was commonplace mapping and road quality equipment. An autonomous car has no need for a large set of laser scanners specifically for down-imagery of pavement.
They're probably collecting the data for future autonomous purposes, though. In the past few years, car companies developing autonomous systems have been working with existing companies that do pavement scanning/mapping, etc.
(Had a previous job at a company doing this stuff; good reminder of how many facts tech articles are completely unaware of.)