Apple Adds 20 New Flyover Locations to Maps

Flyover is so absolutely useless it's mind-boggling.

They keep spending money and resources on the wrong things with Apple maps. Stop animating landmarks, stop adding cities to FlyOver. One commenter pointed out that this is a completely USELESS feature for a mapping application and I agree.

Things Apple actually SHOULD be dumping ALL of its mapping team on:

1) Map data - increasing the accuracy, integrity, reliability and volatility of its mapping data for better directions
2) Point-Of-Interest (POI) mapping data - getting the latest and greatest list of businesses for users to search in maps
3) Ease of use in mapping data/error reporting - as of now if you report an incorrect location, you have to use poor satellite data and a pin to tell Apple where it is, but it doesn't know where you are at the time of the report, so you can't drop a pin at 'your location'. 99% of the time when you're reporting when Apple got it wrong, it's after you've arrived at the 'correct' location. Making this process easier and more intuitive for users and business owners will go far in improving mapping data cheaply though 'crowd sourcing'.
4) Improved and up-to-date satellite imagery
5) StreetView

That is all.

Amazing feature but very slow rollout.

Belfast, Ireland.

*grabs popcorn*

Why is Apple wasting time on this useless feature while neglecting to update satellite imagery that is years out of date?

I despise Google, but Street View rules them all. These 3D flyovers are great if you are using them in flight sim software as has been the case for many years now. I just don't see the utility in this for a mapping application.

Wondering if those specially equipped vehicles belonging to Apple that were reported on a few months ago are going to do Apple's version of street level views.

*Belfast, Ireland*


I shall be the one to say it as its my hometown.

Belfast is not in Ireland. It is in Northern Ireland.
It is also the capital of NI.

It is great to see Belfast getting some attention, it is fantastic city.

Facts:

Belfast is in Ireland
Belfast is in Northern Ireland
Belfast is not in the Republic of Ireland
Belfast is in the United Kingdom

How about updating half a million people cities covered in clouds ?

That would be a good start... Satellite quality is so awful :/

What the heck does Street View have to do with flyover? They are entirely different things and used for entirely different purposes. When you are new to a city or trying to get an overall understand of a city's layout, that is what flyover is for. You would have to be crazy to tap.... wait.... tap.... wait.... tap... down miles upon miles of a city a few feet at a time with Street View. And you still wouldn't understand the overall layout.

When forest rangers want to get an overall idea of an area (like when a forest fire occurs) then get in a helicopter and do a flyover. They don't grab a backpack and hike hundreds of miles in every direction over every square mile in the area. That would be insane.

I wish people would stop trying to compare the two. They are not for the same purpose. Street View is absolutely useless for what Flyover does.

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Street View is so absolutely useless for getting an overall understanding of the layout of a city it's mind-boggling. See what happens when you compare things that aren't meant to be compared?

Your argument might be compelling if flyover had significant penetration. As it stands, for the vast majority of people it's useless for anything other than a novelty. It's utility is suspect at best. When you're in a new city, a standard map can help anyone get a basic understanding of a city's layout, and far better than flyover.

You're right. They are different tools for different purposes. Streetview is useless for getting an overall layout of a city. That's probably why no one ever used it for that purpose. They use a map, Streetview is a tool for destination. Flyover is a glorified tech demonstration. It's in less than 150 locations. That's helpful.:rolleyes:

How is Belfast in Ireland exactly?

I understand what he means. He means that Belfast is located on the full island called Ireland. The island is split into two countries and Republic of Ireland is nearly always considered as Ireland. Even maps clearly show an outline calling one Ireland and the other Northern Ireland!

As all other places were described with their respective country names(or state) I felt there was confusion over which country Belfast belonged.

Hence why the first comment about it saying Belfast,Ireland wanted popcorn. Hah.