In its aim to take Maps app to the next level, Apple turns to drones.
Apple Drones
According to Bloomberg, people familiar with the matter claim that Apple plans to use indoor navigation features and drones in order to improve its Maps service. This way, Apple hopes to catch its rival and longtime leader Google.
According to Forbes, while Google is relying on annoying cars that are stalking your neighborhood, as Apple aims to up its game now there will be drones flying around for gathering maps data. The tech giant has plans to develop indoor mapping capabilities.
The Cupertino-based company is assembling a team of data-collection and robotics experts that will use drones to faster gather and update map information. Currently, Apple Maps app is using company's existing fleet of camera-and-sensor minivans.
Apple drones will fly around to track changes to the roads, examine street signs and monitor if areas are under construction. The data collected by aerial means would be then sent to Apple teams to rapidly update the Maps app in order to provide fresh information to users. The tech giant is also developing new features for its Maps application, including improvements to car navigation and views inside buildings.
Apple Maps App
Five years after Google launched its Maps app in the iPhone, Apple's introduced its own mapping app back in 2012. Apple's app first came with errors like an incorrect airport address and a grocery store marked as a hospital. The company lacked the technology needed to quickly capture data from many different sources in order to evaluate its digital maps.
Since Apple launched its Maps applications, the company has improved its features by adding a mode for navigating public transit systems, more quickly updating data, opening the platform to outside services such as OpenTable restaurant reservation and Uber ride-hailing, as well as improving search results. The latest drone initiative is unlikely to be related to a commercial Apple drone product and comes only as a continuation of the company's effort to improve its Maps app.
