Over the weekend, there was a report that Apple did indeed acquire 3D mapping company C3 Technologies. In our original profile of the company, we mentioned that it was purchased in part from Saab AB, a Swedish aerospace and defense company.

The technology had originally been developed for military purposes such as missile targetting. Here's a video of how the mapping data is obtained:


Technology Review previously described the process:

C3's models are generated with little human intervention. First, a plane equipped with a custom-designed package of professional-grade digital single-lens reflex cameras takes aerial photos. Four cameras look out along the main compass points, at oblique angles to the ground, to image buildings from the side as well as above. Additional cameras (the exact number is secret) capture overlapping images from their own carefully determined angles, producing a final set that contains all the information needed for a full 3-D rendering of a city's buildings. Machine-vision software developed by C3 compares pairs of overlapping images to gauge depth, just as our brains use stereo vision, to produce a richly detailed 3-D model.

Top Rated Comments

flottenheimer Avatar
169 months ago
It is incredible.

I still find even the regular Google Maps to be an amazing achievement. A data-set of photos covering the entire planet at pretty close range. And we all have access. For free. That's insanely great in my book.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mdriftmeyer Avatar
169 months ago
I believe that's London, not San Francisco.

Yeah, Big Ben and Wimbley kind of give it away. :D
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Strod Avatar
169 months ago
I know I've already posted but PLEASE!!! look at Nokia 3D mapping. I stumbled upon it by accident but the quality seems as good as the second video in this thread - and the loading time quicker.

That's cool, Chris. But I think you don't realize that Nokia/Ovi technology was actually licensed from C3 Technologies (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/19/idUS246491+19-Apr-2011+BW20110419).

So... they look the same... because they ARE the same... but the point is that apparently now Apple owns the technology. :D
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wiz329 Avatar
169 months ago
Does anybody else realize that they are physically going to have to fly over the entire earth every time they want to update buildings, roads, etc and then generate the data? The way the video describes, it seems dreadfully slow...

the surface area of the USA alone about 10 Million km^2. Which translates to 100,000 flying hours. Which translates to 500,000 hours to interpret and graph the data. Assuming 12 hours a day (daylight hours, and this is generous due to storms etc) for flights it would take nearly 23 years of flight time (obviously they would use more than one aircraft) to create just the US. And data interpretation 24/7 for the US would take 57 years. Even if they set up 100 data interpreting stations across the US it would take over half a year to generate the data.

Then land area of the whole world is about 150 million km^2 (or 510 million if you want to also include oceans).To keep the mapping update process under a year you would need nearly 1,000 data interpreting stations and over 300 aircraft. It's all possible, but just seems like a logistical nightmare, especially for something so far outside Apple's expertise.

I'm wondering how frequently Apple would update the maps.... And if Apple didn't update the maps it would become outdated pretty quickly.


I wonder how long it took that one google street view van to drive on every single road in the world.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Digitalclips Avatar
169 months ago
Does anybody else realize that they are physically going to have to fly over the entire earth every time they want to update buildings, roads, etc and then generate the data? The way the video describes, it seems dreadfully slow...

the surface area of the USA alone about 10 Million km^2. Which translates to 100,000 flying hours. Which translates to 500,000 hours to interpret and graph the data. Assuming 12 hours a day (daylight hours) for flights it would take nearly 23 years of flight time (obviously they would use more than one aircraft) to create just the US. And data interpretation 24/7 for the US would take 57 years. Even if they set up 100 data interpreting stations across the US it would take over half a year to generate the data.

Then land area of the whole world is about 150 million km^2 (or 510 million if you want to also include oceans).To keep the mapping update process under a year you would need nearly 1,000 data interpreting stations and over 300 aircraft. It's all possible, but just seems like a logistical nightmare, especially for something so far outside Apple's expertise.

I'm wondering how frequently Apple would update the maps.... And if Apple didn't update the maps it would become outdated pretty quickly.
Perhaps satellites can be used to update much of the initial imagery, heck you can read the label on a can of beans from space these days.

Which brings up another point ... When will Apple have their own satellites to augment iCloud? They can afford it ;)
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
fifthworld Avatar
169 months ago
Does anybody else realize that they are physically going to have to fly over the entire earth every time they want to update buildings, roads, etc and then generate the data? The way the video describes, it seems dreadfully slow...

the surface area of the USA alone about 10 Million km^2. Which translates to 100,000 flying hours. Which translates to 500,000 hours to interpret and graph the data. Assuming 12 hours a day (daylight hours, and this is generous due to storms etc) for flights it would take nearly 23 years of flight time (obviously they would use more than one aircraft) to create just the US. And data interpretation 24/7 for the US would take 57 years. Even if they set up 100 data interpreting stations across the US it would take over half a year to generate the data.

Then land area of the whole world is about 150 million km^2 (or 510 million if you want to also include oceans).To keep the mapping update process under a year you would need nearly 1,000 data interpreting stations and over 300 aircraft. It's all possible, but just seems like a logistical nightmare, especially for something so far outside Apple's expertise.

I'm wondering how frequently Apple would update the maps.... And if Apple didn't update the maps it would become outdated pretty quickly.

Just to put it in perspective, mapping of our planet has been going on for more that 2,000 year.

Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.1

Friday September 27, 2024 6:14 am PDT by
Apple is set to release iOS 18.1 in October, bringing the first set of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update marks a significant step forward in Apple's AI integration, offering a new Siri contextually-aware experience and a range of additional capabilities powered by on-device machine learning and large language models. There are a couple of handy new...
ios 17 iphone 15 pro status bar sos crop feature2

iPhone SOS: Verizon Experiences Major Outage Across the U.S. [Update: Fixed]

Monday September 30, 2024 9:03 am PDT by
Verizon is currently experiencing a major outage that is affecting many customers across the U.S., including iPhone users. Affected users may be unable to send or receive phone calls, send or receive text messages, or use cellular data. As a result of the network being down, many affected iPhone users are seeing "SOS" displayed in their device's status bar. In a support document, Apple says...
m3 mbp space black

What to Expect From an Apple Event in October: iPad Mini 7, Redesigned Mac Mini, and More

Friday September 27, 2024 11:47 am PDT by
Apple will likely hold another event in October this year to announce new Macs and iPads. If so, it would be the fourth time in the last five years that Apple has held an event in October. Last year, Apple held a virtual event on Monday, October 30 to announce new MacBook Pro and iMac models with the M3 series of chips. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Below, we...
maxresdefault

AirPods 4 With ANC vs. AirPods Pro 2

Saturday September 28, 2024 7:02 am PDT by
Apple last week released the AirPods 4, and one version of the new earbuds has Active Noise Cancellation included. ANC means the AirPods 4 have a feature set that rivals the AirPods Pro 2, so we thought we'd compare the two for those undecided on which to get. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The AirPods 4 are Apple's first open-ear earbuds to include ANC, and the...
iPad iOS 16 WP Display Feature eric edit

Apple May Launch First iPad-Like Smart Home Accessory Next Year

Monday September 30, 2024 2:55 am PDT by
Apple could release an iPad-like smart home accessory based on its homeOS platform as early as next year, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Writing in his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman reports that the display will run Apple apps like Calendar, Notes, and Home, and will feature an interface "optimized for controlling home appliances and quickly seeing information." Apple's...
iphone 16 pro colors 1

iPhone 16 Pro Max Charging Speed Test Proves 45W Rumor Was Wrong

Monday September 30, 2024 8:16 am PDT by
While a Chinese regulatory filing showed that all iPhone 16 models are rated for up to 45W charging speeds, tests have since shown that the devices do not actually charge this fast. However, there are still improvements. ChargerLAB last week tested the iPhone 16 Pro Max with a variety of Apple and third-party chargers, and it found that the device achieved maximum sustained charging speeds...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature Single Camera 2

10 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 17

Monday September 23, 2024 2:00 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we sometimes get rumored feature leaks so far ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different – already we have some idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you plan to skip...