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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.
Original Submission
(Score: 4, Insightful) by janrinok on Saturday June 13 2015, @07:15AM
The USA has the first amendment - other countries (in this case the UK and Ireland) have their own laws and are not obligated to comply with any US versions. However, it is irrelevant. Firstly, nobody has suggested that the activity is illegal in any way. I'm not quite sure why you thought that someone had suggested such a thing.
Secondly, the point of the article is that there was earlier speculation that the work was related to Apples autonomous vehicles. This reports indicates that the primary function is the collection of data to improve Apple Maps. However, there may still be useful data collected in addition to mapping that will be of interest to future autonomous vehicles.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]