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C3 Technologies' 3D Maps Also Offer Street Views and Interior Views

Sunday November 6, 2011 11:30 pm PST by Arnold Kim
Rumors have suggested that Apple has acquired 3D mapping firm C3 Technologies. While much of the early demos showed C3's ability to create realistic looking 3D maps, the company had also been working on both street view and interior views prior to their acquisition.


BrightSideOfTheNews reported in a January, 2011 article that the company was creating street level imagery as well using the same technology:
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."
Beyond street level views, the company was also offering interior panoramas as shown in this early promotional photo:


SingularityHub noted how C3 created these interior shots:
As well as increasing its geographic range, C3 is expanding into interior settings. With a special camera rig, they can also create a 3D model of the interior of a building using the same photo stitching they use with their aerial or street level maps. Businesses have to request C3 to come in and create such an inside map of their facilities, so don’t expect these 3D indoor maps to become ubiquitous anytime soon. Still, the technology is ready and available, so we’re bound to see at least a few examples in the months ahead.
Obviously, both street-level work and interior shots are particularly resource intensive. In fact, the interior views are said to have required businesses to invite the company in to make create the images. It's not clear if Apple will use the technology to this degree when they release it. At a minimum, however, street view data would be required to make it match up feature for feature with Google's technology which presently powers iOS Maps.
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BornAgainMac
89 months ago
Schmidt says it sees Apple's voice assistant Siri as a "significant development" that could threaten Google's business. I wonder what Schmidt will say about this?
Rating: 7 Votes
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Swift
89 months ago

I sure don't want them Seeing the inside of my house :o


Don't invite them to take pictures of the inside of your house.
Rating: 7 Votes
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GenesisJLS
89 months ago
Another great acquisition by Apple. I still remember when they acquired FingerWorks, i.e., rights to use their multi-touch technologies in their products.
Rating: 5 Votes
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arn
89 months ago

What company would invite someone making smartbomb targeting imagery to photograph their interior?!


they had already moved away from military uses by the time they launched this. :)

arn
Rating: 5 Votes
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griz
89 months ago
This will not match Google, it will be far superior. The maps will be seamless since they are 3D models. You will be able to run street view as if you were driving down the road. It would be perspectively correct for the lane and direction of travel and it could show custom overlays for turn by turn directions.
Apple will have the single best turn by turn imagery out there.
Rating: 5 Votes
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stevensr123
89 months ago
Do people expect apple to release and online "iCloud" version of the software, to directly compete against google?
Rating: 3 Votes
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Beardy man
89 months ago
Meh, not sure if Apple 'street view' is simply a 3D building mock-up from aerial photos (can't see how that would even hope to work, and yes, I have watched the SAAB video) or whether they intend go down the Google route (literally) with the captcha cars/trikes.

If they do, taking into account how many years Google have been driving around the world and all the wrangles they've got into, does anyone seriously expect Apple street view to land on their desks anytime soon? - and as Tim would say "how does this sell any more product?"

That's not to say I wouldn't relish the prospect - just can't see it happening.
Turn by turn using overhead views I can see, but street level storefronts etc? Nope.
Rating: 3 Votes
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cmChimera
89 months ago
I hope this makes it into iOS 6.
Rating: 3 Votes
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Zunjine
89 months ago

No, if they are doing that imaging and data mining they won't be like the other cars with all the cameras, antennas, etc.


I've seen cars like that in London with no logos on them. We really can't make any assumptions about this stuff. I mean, how many people have seen a Google Streetview car for certain?

The data issue is also a non-issue because nothing is stopping Apple buying in this data from Google or from multiple sources. Big data is a big deal and Google are far from the only player here.

Let's be clear on this, Apple is spending big and they're planning to launch something in this space. We don't know what and we don't know when but if it looks as good as the C3 stuff then we're in for a treat when it hits.
Rating: 3 Votes
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i hate phones
89 months ago
why are people so "blown away" by this? am i missing something? just seems like another company that is stepping into google maps territory. they do all of this already. all i care about is that the iphone gets a native navigation system or allows us to choose a default one to be integrated in to the os. maps app is useless beyond just searching for places.
Rating: 3 Votes

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