Apple has issued a short statement on its website and in various newspapers announcing Apple Maps plans in Canada. The company plans to drive around the country with cars equipped with a ton of sensors in order to improve Apple Maps in Canada.
Apple doesn’t say when it plans to finish scanning Canadian roads and processing data. If you live in Canada, it could take a few months before you notice any change.
Last year, Apple announced that it was in the process of rebuilding Apple Maps from the ground up. And you can already see some improvements in parts of the U.S. with more detailed maps, better representations of pedestrian and green areas, more accurate building shapes, etc.
The company isn’t just doing the bare minimum as its cars are equipped with a GPS rig, four LiDAR arrays and eight cameras shooting high-resolution images.
For now, Apple says it’s all about improving data quality. But the company could also leverage this data to launch new features, such as a Google Street View competitor, cycling directions and maybe turn-by-turn directions using augmented reality.
It’s hard to work on a new version of Apple Maps without telling the world about it — there are actual cars on the road. Now let’s see if the company plans to say a bit more about new features at its WWDC keynote next week.
Source: Tech Crunch