Apple's fleet of vehicles collecting street-level mapping data has arrived in the United Kingdom as planned, with the first verified sighting in Solihull, England, approximately two hours northwest of London. While camera-equipped fifth-generation Dodge Caravans have been used to collect mapping data in the United States, Apple appears to be using Mercedes-Benz Vito vans marked with "Apple Maps" in Europe.
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Apple confirmed earlier this month that it is driving vehicles around the world to collect data to improve Apple Maps, and the mapping imagery is almost certainly being used to create a Google Maps "Street View" competitor. Apple Maps vehicles are also taking photos of businesses and storefronts in major metropolitan areas to replace current imagery provided by third-party sources such as Yelp.
The cities and regions where Apple Maps vehicles will be driving in England through July:
East of England
Essex (Brentwood, Epping Forest), Hertfordshire (Broxbourne, Dacorum, Hertsmere, St Albans, Three Rivers, Watford, Welwyn Hatfield)
Greater London
Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Camden, City of London, City of Westminster, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Newham, Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, WandsworthSouth East
Kent (Dartford, Sevenoaks), Surrey (Elmbridge, Epsom and Ewell, Spelthorne)West Midlands
Birmingham (Sutton Coldfield, Perry Barr, Erdington, Ladywood, Hodge Hill, Yardley, Edgbaston, Hall Green, Selly Oak, Northfield), Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Staffordshire, Walsall, Warwickshire, Worcestershire
Apple has also updated its Apple Maps vehicles website with a new list of locations where it will be collecting data between July 1 to July 14, with notable additions including New Orleans and unmapped areas in Santa Clara County. Apple may also be at least temporarily finished collecting data in multiple states it has canvassed over the past several months, including Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Hawaii.
(Thanks, Stephen!)
Top Rated Comments
(View all)Pops into Greggs for a Sausage roll
Comes out and his Van is on bricks
Thanks guys! Great way to start off a discussion about Apple Maps. Snarky remarks. How about celebrating the fact that Apple is making strides to work on the mapping issues people so humbly complain about here often?
Did you just respond to our 'snarky remarks' with a… snarky remark? Although one of those directly mentioned Apple needing to catch up, the others were vaguely humorous and could be considered celebration—but I'm not sure what kind of celebration you're looking for.It's fine that the van is aluminum, but it should be unibody and in three different colors: silver, space grey, and gold.
The UK vans are made of aluminium.