• Apple’s iOS 6 New 3D Maps Screenshots Leaked

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, iPhone, News, Rants & Raves, Rumors 1 Response

    Apple’s iOS 6 New 3D Maps Screenshots Leaked

    Apple’s iOS 6 New 3D Maps Screenshots Leaked

    A new purported image of Apple’s upcoming Maps service has surfaced and this time by the guys at BGR who just posted a few images of Apple’s iOS 6 Maps app with 3D option which was heavily rumored this month.

    These shots looked very likely and they add up to the claims that Apple has worked on an in-house mapping solution for years now. Apple is reportedly testing its 3D technology in build 10A314 of iOS 6.

    Apple has been working on an in-house mapping solution for a few years, and it appears as if the company is finally ready to release a new Maps app for iOS, sidestepping Google’s mapping data for its own. BGR has obtained exclusive information and photos of parts of Apple’s new Maps app from a trusted source, and the app features a refreshed user interface including a brand new navigation bar. This bar, we’re told, is silver instead of blue. Since the current Maps app follows the standard blue iOS color scheme, we think it’s possible Apple might shift toward a silver color theme in iOS 6 like on the iPad.

    The iPhone version of Maps has a floating locate me button (it sounds very similar to Android’s Google Maps app) in the bottom left corner. To access 3D mode, which will make use of Apple’s C3 Technologies acquisition, you have to peel back the lower right corner of Maps just like the current version and enable 3D mode. Once enabled, you can switch in and out of 3D mode by tapping a 3D icon in the lower left corner. A photo of this feature can be seen in our gallery.

  • Apple Rumored to Unveil Revamped 3D Maps in iOS 6

    // Gradly // 3D, Apple, blog, Rants & Raves, Rumors, Tech. 4 Responses

    Apple Rumored to Unveil Revamped 3D Maps in iOS 6

    Apple Rumored to Unveil Revamped 3D Maps in iOS 6

    Apple is expected to introduce a revamped Maps application in the next major update iOS 6, ditching Google Maps service as a backend to provide its proprietary solution that will feature 3D mapping technology.

    AllThingsD reported that the new feature is expected to be unveiled at Apple’s WWDC which will be held June 11 through 15 in San Francisco

    “Sources describe the new Maps app as a forthcoming tent-pole feature of iOS that will, in the words of one, ‘blow your head off,'” Paczkowski wrote. “I’m not quite sure what that means, and the source in question declined to elaborate, but it’s likely a reference to the photorealistic 3-D mapping tech Apple acquired when it purchased C3 Technologies.”

    Apple’s proprietary mapping solution has been a long time in the making after the company acquired Placebase, C3 Technologies, and Poly9.

    The most important thing in the new Maps application is a powerful new 3D mode provided by C3 Technologies:

    C3 Technologies is the leading provider of 3D mapping solutions, offering photo-realistic models of the world for search, navigation and geographic information systems. Since 2007 when it was spun out of the aerospace and defense company Saab AB, venture-backed C3 has redefined mapping by applying previously classified image processing technology to the development of 3D maps as a platform for new social and commercial applications. The Sweden-based company’s automated software and advanced algorithms enable C3 to rapidly assemble extremely precise 3D models, and seamlessly integrate them with traditional 2D maps, satellite images, street level photography and user generated images, that together are forever changing how people use maps and explore the world.

  • Mind Blowing 3D Maps by C3 Technologies [Updated]

    // Gradly // 3D, Acquisition, Apple, blog, google, iPad, iPhone, Microsoft, News, Rants & Raves, Tech. 7 Responses

    You are familiar with your current mapping services when it comes to Google Maps, Bing Maps or Google Earth, But a new technology will let you get beyond that and the Swedish company behind it thinks you actually deserve more and… seriously.

    Enter mind-blowing 3D mapping technology from Swedish startup C3 Technologies, the company that showcased their 3D maps on iPad at the CES show. Unlike your Ma and Pa’s maps, C3 Technologies calculates the terrain and buildings directly from aerial images. The approach takes into account the positions and angles of the cameras that took aerial images in order to give each pixel its geographical position with very high accuracy.

    When we say high precision, we mean it hundred percent because C3 maps incorporate recently declassified missile targeting technology by Saab, a well-known Swedish aerospace company. As a result of all this, you get military-grade, pixel-perfect realistic representation of the terrain that can be rotated and paned around to a stunning effect. And at CES, they showed off 3D view of San Francisco running surprisingly smoothly on an iPad, see above

    In addition to 3D maps, C3 also makes awesome street level imagery captured using “an advanced multiple camera system with overlapping viewing angles to capture the entire surroundings in stereo.” Topping it all off are incredible interior views of restaurants, hotels and other points of interest that can be found along the street.

    Don’t you think that would be amazing if this was chosen as the maps to power the upcoming iPhone 5?!

    Update:

    C3 Technologies was acquired in July and the buyer is a western company and currently kept secret. Certainly the big players such as Apple, Microsoft and Google are the prime candidates.

    As noted by macrumors, Apple is a good fit for the company, as they have already admitted to be working on their own turn-by-turn direction GPS service, and we’ve also found evidence that they have licensed map data from a number of companies. It would also reduce their dependance on Google’s mapping solution which presently is used on iOS devices. Apple previously purchased mapping company Placebase and has been aggressively hiring for their Geo Team to take Maps to the “next level”.

    [via brightsideofnews]

  • Google ‘Street View’ is Available via ‘Maps’ on iPad iOS 4.3 [UPDATED]

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, google, News, Rants & Raves 4 Responses

    I was Checking the Maps Video Tour and just noted that Google Street View is now available on iOS Devices, Ive not tried iOS 4.3 but apparently its not an iPad only however.

    Apple has posted 14 Guided Tour movies for the company’s iPad 2, which ships on Friday, March 11th. The Guided Tours are divided into app-specific uses, rather than focusing on the new hardware, and include FaceTime, Mail, Safari, iBooks, Videos, Photos, Find My iPad, iPod, iTunes, App Store, Maps, AirPlay, and the company’s newest iPad apps, GarageBand and iMovie.

    Update:

    This feature is already there but .. worth noting however