Apple has added two new locations to its Maps Flyover feature in iOS, including Tokyo, Japan and Zion National Park in Utah. The new additions to Flyover allow users to take a close 3D look at the areas, zooming in on buildings and landmarks.

First introduced with iOS 6 and based on technology acquired from the purchase of C3 Technologies, Flyover is now available in 88 different locations across the world.

zion_flyover

Zion National Park in Utah

The new additions to Flyover come as Apple works to continue to improve its Maps app. Recently, users have reported significant improvements in Apple Maps data, with errors being fixed with quick turnaround and additional POI locations added in many places. Apple also made notable updates to Maps in China, Japan, and several other countries back in March.

iOS 8 is expected to bring new features to Maps, though not at release. Transit directions and other Maps improvements are in the works, but may not be available to customers until the first significant iOS 8 update, possibly iOS 8.1, in 2015. iOS 8 also includes a new "City Tours" Flyover feature hidden within the code that lets users view a city's major points of interest via Flyover, but it is not yet unlocked.

Top Rated Comments

nagromme Avatar
147 months ago
Why don't they just put street view back?
Google won't let them, because Apple refused to share our private data with Google. Fair enough: both companies have to defend their business, and Apple's primary business is satisfied customers, while Google's is harvesting data.

There's no ideal outcome possible from that scenario, but I do like what we've got! A great Apple Maps app (thankfully, in my region) plus a Google app if you need it (but I never do).

What a waste of resources.

How about improving the overall mapping software than working on gimmicks Apple :apple:
That was exactly my thought.... at first.

I though Street View was terrfic for figuring out super-local details like which driveway goes with which building, or which doorway goes into which business. And I thought Flyover was a super-cool gimmick that I'd play with and forget.

In reality--since my city DOES have flyover (and I know that doesn't help everyone) I use it all the time, and it does what street view used to do, only MUCH BETTER.

Street view: your view is directly at the familiar street level perspective, and will look just the way you expect when you're there in person. Nice!

But...

- Your view is often in the wrong lane, taking the "familiar" advantage away.

- It's often blurred and smeared beyond recognition, noisy, poor contrast, and obscured by lens flares, so you can't read most of the signs you need anyway.

And...

Flyover view is WAY FASTER and WAY EASIER TO NAVIGATE.

Street View is such an awful experience (including terrible desktop navigation controls). Turn... turn some more... adjust... click to move forward... wait for loading... look around... oops, went down the wrong way... turn around again... turn some more... tap back where you came from... loading delay... turn again... click again... loading delay... can't quite see what I want... try a little farther ahead... loading delay... wish I could back up just a little... but I can't, I'm stuck with nodes 40 feet apart... give up.

Compare to Flyover: you can navigate instantly and smoothly using the SAME panning/zooming controls as 2D maps. It's not a separatre, awkward mode. It just works.

And you can easlly see the lay of the land, the driveways, etc. that Street View could show you. Not perfectly, but not worse either--just different. It turns out that the human brain actually has no trouble recognizing a place from an angle 50 feet in the air.

Try this experiment: find a square block of your city, and pretend you know a restaurant is in that area, and you know what it looks like but you don't remember the name. Now take a "walk" around that block, all the way around and back, four turns, in Street View. Now try it in Flyover.

No contest. You can spot the place in a few seconds in Flyover. With Street View you will spend minutes, and that's not counting the time you need to go get a shot of whisky to survive the hassle.

So let's hope Apple KEEPS expanding flyover like this. It doesn't help nearly enough people yet.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BeachChair Avatar
147 months ago
Google won't let them, because Apple refused to share our private data with Google. Fair enough: both companies have to defend their business, and Apple's primary business is satisfied customers, while Google's is harvesting data.

There's no ideal outcome possible from that scenario, but I do like what we've got! A great Apple Maps app (thankfully, in my region) plus a Google app if you need it (but I never do).



That was exactly my thought.... at first.

I though Street View was terrfic for figuring out super-local details like which driveway goes with which building, or which doorway goes into which business. And I thought Flyover was a super-cool gimmick that I'd play with and forget.

In reality--since my city DOES have flyover (and I know that doesn't help everyone) I use it all the time, and it does what street view used to do, only MUCH BETTER.

Street view: your view is directly at the familiar street level perspective, and will look just the way you expect when you're there in person. Nice!

But...

- Your view is often in the wrong lane, taking the "familiar" advantage away.

- It's often blurred and smeared beyond recognition, noisy, poor contrast, and obscured by lens flares, so you can't read most of the signs you need anyway.

And...

Flyover view is WAY FASTER and WAY EASIER TO NAVIGATE.

Street View is such an awful experience (including terrible desktop navigation controls). Turn... turn some more... adjust... click to move forward... wait for loading... look around... oops, went down the wrong way... turn around again... turn some more... tap back where you came from... loading delay... turn again... click again... loading delay... can't quite see what I want... try a little farther ahead... loading delay... wish I could back up just a little... but I can't, I'm stuck with nodes 40 feet apart... give up.

Compare to Flyover: you can navigate instantly and smoothly using the SAME panning/zooming controls as 2D maps. It's not a separatre, awkward mode. It just works.

And you can easlly see the lay of the land, the driveways, etc. that Street View could show you. Not perfectly, but not worse either--just different. It turns out that the human brain actually has no trouble recognizing a place from an angle 50 feet in the air.

Try this experiment: find a square block of your city, and pretend you know a restaurant is in that area, and you know what it looks like but you don't remember the name. Now take a "walk" around that block, all the way around and back, four turns, in Street View. Now try it in Flyover.

No contest. You can spot the place in a few seconds in Flyover. With Street View you will spend minutes, and that's not counting the time you need to go get a shot of whisky to survive the hassle.

So let's hope Apple KEEPS expanding flyover like this. It doesn't help nearly enough people yet.

Agreed. My city (Copenhagen) has had flyover from the beginning. I have used it a TON. It is by far the best way to show people a place. It is the easiest way to understand and recognize an area.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
springsup Avatar
147 months ago
Still missing many European capitals. Amsterdam & Brussels for instance.

Tokyo does look pretty cool, though.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Albright Avatar
147 months ago
Apple maps flyover simply doesn’t compare to street view, in terms of detail, apple’s 3D mode is woeful, you can’t even tell this building is a KFC using apple maps, compared to being able to see how much the original recipe bites cost, when using google street view. :p
Image (http://i.imgur.com/3lxm3Qy.jpg)
I can tell it's a KFC because the pin says "Kentucky Fried Chicken." :P

And who knows how old that Street View photo is - the price has likely changed since it was taken.

And am I seeing things, or did Google blur the Colonel's face on the sign on the building? :P
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
err404 Avatar
147 months ago
I'm a big fan of fly over. It is a fun way to re live vacations to supported destinations. That said they need to better cache the area around your view so as to reduce the popup from texture streaming.
For the people complaining that Apple is working on this, seriously don't worry about it. This is a very different talent set from traditional mapping/navigation. Nobody is being pulled from other areas of the mapping team to work on these. Apple is a huge company and has really built an impressive mapping solution in a short time. Sure they have some ways to go still, but let's be honest, the relationship with Google was preventing iOS maps for progressing. Apple had to dump Google maps if they wanted to get turn by turn directions. The upside is we quickly went from no good free navigation app (sorry Waze, but you were young back then), to having several quality options to choose from.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
spencers Avatar
147 months ago
What a waste of resources.

How about improving the overall mapping software than working on gimmicks Apple :apple:

I'm still awestruck every time I see one of the 3D Maps
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 26 Feature

iOS 26.1 to iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday October 1, 2025 1:26 pm PDT by
iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, and Safari. More features and changes will follow in future versions,...
iPhone 17 vs Air and Pros Feature

New iPhones See 'Stronger Than Expected' Demand With One Exception

Thursday October 2, 2025 7:26 am PDT by
Nearly two weeks after the iPhone 17 series launched, analysts at investment banking firm Morgan Stanley said demand for the devices has been "modestly stronger than we originally expected," based on a combination of extended shipping estimates on Apple's online store and information it gathered from Apple's supply chain. There has been strong early demand for the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro,...
macbook air prime day 2025

M5 MacBook Air: Release Date, Features, and Performance Predictions

Friday October 3, 2025 3:39 am PDT by
The MacBook Air is Apple's most popular laptop – a thin, fanless machine that wields quiet power thanks to the efficiency of Apple silicon. While the M4 model isn't exactly old, attention is already turning to its successor. Apple doesn't telegraph new product launches ahead of time, but we can draw a surprisingly clear picture of what to expect by looking at Apple's silicon roadmap,...
maxresdefault

The MacRumors Show: Leaks Reveal What Apple Products Are Coming Next

Friday October 3, 2025 8:05 am PDT by
On this episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the latest leaks about the next-generation iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, Studio Display, and Vision Pro. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Earlier this week, an apparent unboxing video of an updated iPad Pro with the M5 chip was shared online. The same YouTube account leaked the 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 chip...
Tim Cook Rainbow

Apple Event in October? Here's What to Expect

Monday September 29, 2025 9:31 am PDT by
Apple's annual iPhone event is in the rearview mirror, but rumors suggest the company plans to release a handful of additional products before the year ends. Will there be another Apple event this October? We discuss the possibility below. Apple in October Apple's most recent October events were in 2021 and 2023. In 2022 and 2024, Apple did not host an October event. Instead, it...
space black mbp

Here's Every New Apple Product That Leaked Yesterday

Wednesday October 1, 2025 8:27 am PDT by
A handful of upcoming Apple products leaked yesterday, through a combination of YouTube videos out of Russia and U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) documents that were released, despite Apple's confidentiality requests. The leaked products include an iPad Pro with an M5 chip, as well as updated MacBook Pro and Apple Vision Pro models. All of these devices had already been rumored...
Apple 2025 Thumb 1

Apple's 2025 Product Roadmap: What's Still Coming

Wednesday October 1, 2025 3:56 pm PDT by
Apple's two big yearly events, WWDC and the iPhone launch, are done and over with, but there are still some new products that we're expecting to see before the end of the year. Apple TV The Apple TV hasn't been updated since 2022, so it's due for a refresh. It doesn't look like Apple is going to change the design of its set-top box, but we can expect a faster chip Apple code suggests...
Apple Glasses Yellow Feature

Apple's 2026 Smart Glasses: Five Key Features to Expect

Thursday October 2, 2025 3:25 pm PDT by
Apple is working on a set of smart glasses to rival the Meta Ray-Bans, and now that Meta has debuted glasses that include a display, Apple wants to speed up development on its first-generation model. Work has stopped on the next Vision Pro so that Apple can prioritize getting the glasses to market. They'll Be Fashion Forward Like the initial versions of the Apple Watch, the Apple Glasses...