Came across this Apple Park construction time-lapse video yesterday (embedded below). The video is from last year, is relatively high resolution, but jumpy. Obviously, this is as many frame grabs as the source data allowed. It did make me wish for both an even higher resolution, and enough images to create a single smooth animation.
Pulled me down a bit of a rabbit hole. First, I went to Google Maps and searched for Apple Park, checked out that satellite imagery. I then searched for Googleplex, to check out the satellite imagery of Google’s headquarters.
Of course, I then had to do the same thing on Apple Maps. As you’d expect, the satellite captures were from different dates, but the image resolution was relatively high. As I explored, I also realized how much of the satellite and Google street view imagery continues to be updated.
To get a better sense of this, I took a look at a giant construction project that is still underway, a building in Philadelphia that will be the tallest building in the US outside of New York and Chicago. To find it, search for:
1800 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA
In Google Maps, you can see the building underway, already pretty tall. In Apple Maps, the site is still a parking map, the building not yet begun.
Not a slam at Apple Maps. I’m sure if I kept looking, I’d find major construction projects where the reverse was true. I just found this interesting.
You have to take into account that Google has the infrastructure already in place to update its map imagery… Apple has only really just begun to work on theirs. I’m sure as Apple moves further into their own mapping data, we’ll see much more timely updates.
No excuse, Apple has the financial resources and has been available for six years, it just doesn’t care as much. I am moving from Apple Maps to Google Maps in Europe, they are so far ahead. They have bus stops and clicking on them show the bus numbers and timetable for the stop.
That said AppleMaps has added my corrections in about 1 week each time.
Yep. Apple Map development is still too slow for my liking. However, strangely in my country Apple Map satellite image is more detailed than Google’s and considering privacy issue of Google it’s a no brainer to stick with Apple Map.
But of course I’d want Apple to get off their asses and improve Map exponentially, the same for Siri.
It’s not an excuse, or a matter of financial resources. You can’t just throw money at something and “poof” you have your solution. There isn’t some map store Apple can go to and just buy the data they need that will match or exceed the data Google has been gathering for over 13 years now.