Digital maps
Apple’s camera cars and backpacks back in Germany
Almost a year after the announcement, Apple is also introducing its improved map service in Germany. photo
© Andrej Sokolow/dpa
Apple would like to further expand and optimize the data base of its maps app. The company’s employees travel by car, but also on foot.
Apple uses the recordings to create, among other things, detailed maps with information about traffic routing and shops. The company also shows photos of streets in its map service using the “Look Around” function – similar to Google “Street View”. Apple’s cars with cameras and laser radar sensors that can recognize shapes came to Germany for the first time in 2019.
New detailed representation
Since the summer of 2021, Apple in Germany has also been collecting data and images for its interactive panoramic displays using camera backpacks in order to also cover car-free areas. In spring 2022, the data collected in Germany was made visible with a new version of Apple Maps. The new version includes a more detailed representation, ranging from road coverage to 3D buildings in cities to the landscape including vegetation.
As was the case almost three years ago, people with camera backpacks will once again be out and about where cars can’t go. These recordings – for example in parks, pedestrian zones and train stations – are to be taken in stages in Munich, Berlin, Potsdam and Hamburg from May 23rd to July 31st. Apple emphasizes that, as before, faces and license plates will be automatically blurred out in the “Look Around” function before publication.
If you would like to request pixelation of your own home, you can contact Apple by email at [email protected]. Pixelation requests to Google for displays in Street View can be directed to [email protected].