Apple cars roaming cities to capture Maps images
Published 12:00 am Thursday, June 11, 2015
A couple of days after Apple promised to bring public transit directions to its Maps app, the company’s teasing what could be another big update to the service.
Wednesday, Apple said it’s “driving vehicles around the world to collect data which will be used to improve Apple Maps.” The type of data being collected wasn’t specified, but Apple noted it will “blur faces and license plates on collected images prior to publication.”
That suggests Apple is developing a feature similar to Google Maps Street View, which shows street-level images of neighborhoods. Google drives cars with cameras on top of them to take millions of photos and then uses software to stitch them together in a way that’s easy to navigate online. Street View, which went live in 2007, has led to ongoing concerns over privacy, though.
Initial images didn’t have enough blurring, so digital voyeurs were able to spot people doing not-so-good things (like picking their nose or smoking when they shouldn’t have been), drivers getting tickets and a man entering an adult book store. Google also admitted to violating privacy regulations by using the vans to capture data about private Wi-Fi networks. It paid a $7 million fine to settle the issue. Executives said they were unaware employees had been collecting the Wi-Fi information.