Reports from inside the electrical manufacturing industry suggest Apple is actively developing 3D mapping technology using information gathered from the military. The 360 degree maps are believed to be better than any technology than anything else currently available in the public domain.
Earlier this year it was reported that “a company in the western world” had purchased 3D mapping company C3 Technologies for a figure somewhere in the region of $250 million. The Swedish company are known to use once-classified military gathered mapping information which provides users with 3D renderings of a city.
The Swedish defence company Saab AB reportedly sold its 57.8 percent stake in C3 for $150 million several years ago, giving them access to images taken from an aerial perspective using planes equipped with digital SLR cameras which are capable of capturing the sides of buildings as well as the top. 3D Technologies then supplemented the images with photographs taken at ground level to give the user a virtual perspective of a city.
“Unlike Google or Bing, all of our maps are 360° explorable,” C3 Chief Strategy Officer Paul Smith said earlier this year. “Everything, every building, every tree, every landmark, from the city center to the suburbs, is captured in 3D—not just a few select buildings.”
Apple have been stepping up their interest in 3D mapping technologies over the last couple of years and are believed to be actively developing a service to not only rival Google maps, but to surpass them. In 2009, the multi-media giants purchased Google competitors, Cupertino based in California. This was followed up a year later with the acquisition of web-based mapping company Poly 9 in order to provide a cross-browser cross-platform 3D globe product that did not require any downloads.
Recent patents filed with the U.S patent office, together with job openings with Apple, also strongly indicate the iPad-maker is looking to make advances in mapping technology. Earlier this year the electronics company posted two job opportunities for the position of “iOS Maps Application Develop,” which explained in the job description that the role would entail ways to “radically improve how people interact with maps and location-based services.”
In 2010, Apple lodged a patent which showed the company was looking to introduce 3D technology to the iPhone and have since also filed an application entitled “Augmented Reality Maps” documenting plans for an invention that would overlay street names on top of live video. The technology is expected to be available to the public within the next two years.
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