Apple Maps Vehicles to Begin Surveying Belgium and the Netherlands

Apple Maps vehicles will begin surveying Belgium and the Netherlands during June, according to a list of locations maintained on Apple's website.

The data collected will be used to improve Apple Maps and to expand its Look Around feature, which remains limited to a handful of U.S. cities. Introduced in iOS 13, Look Around is similar to Google's Street View, providing a street-level view of supported locations with high-resolution 3D imagery that can be zoomed and panned.

One advantage of Look Around over Street View is smoother panning when moving around the map for a more immersive experience. As with Street View, Apple blurs faces and license plates in all of the 3D imagery that it makes available.

Apple Maps‌ vehicles have also surveyed parts of the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, France, Spain, Sweden, Slovenia, Portugal, Croatia, Japan, Andorra, and Puerto Rico since data collection began in 2015. In some areas where streets are not easily accessible, Apple uses employees wearing a backpack system to collect data.