maps - SlashGear

Apple 3D flyovers take a trip to Europe, Japan, and Mexico

JC Torres | Aug 12, 2015

Trying to make a bigger claim on the maps and navigation market, Apple has extended its admittedly captivating 3D flyover feature to 21 new areas spread across Europe, Mexico, and one in Japan. Now both local and tourists can enjoy an almost breathtaking digital 3D view of these places. But more than just a pretty sight, the 3D visualization of these maps could help give users a more solid grasp (pun totally intended) of the topography as well as the landmarks of a given area.

German car consortium ready to pay for Nokia’s HERE maps [UPDATE]

JC Torres | Aug 2, 2015

If this latest bit is true, Nokia might soon finally be able to unburden itself of yet another business tangential to its new found focus in networking technology. As earlier reported, a consortium of German automobile makers, namely Daimler, BMW, and Audi, are looking into purchasing Nokia's HERE maps business. Now it seems that the ball has started rolling, as the companies are said to have agreed to dole out 2.9 billion EUR, roughly $3.2 billion, to buy out what is probably the third, or even second, most popular map and navigation product in the market.

Google partners with Aclima to map air quality with Street View cars

Adam Westlake | Jul 30, 2015

Google's Street View cars are great at providing detailed maps and imagery of roads and intersections, but what if they could collect more data to add to their maps, like the quality of air in an area? That's just what Aclima hopes to achieve, as they've just announced a partnership with Google that will put their environmental sensors on a handful of Street View cars in a new pilot program aimed at improving pollution awareness.

Nokia HERE sale tipped: Audi, Daimler and BMW to seal deal soon

Brittany A. Roston | Jul 21, 2015

Nokia has spent several years focusing on its HERE maps and the related technology, and for a small period of that time it has been working to offload the business onto someone else. Uber reportedly had a bid in for HERE at one point, as did Google. The latter of those two companies, according to sources that cropped up in May, spurred a trio of German auto makers to band together in a joint effort to block Google. Enter the latest round of sources and the info they bring: it looks like those auto makers may prove successful in their effort.

Google Map Maker editing reopens in August

Shane McGlaun | Jul 14, 2015

Google has announced that it is reopening Map Maker up to editing in early August. Map Maker editing was blocked after pranks were played using the map editing feature. The most notable prank carried out using the Google Map Maker editing feature was the inclusion of the Android mascot urinating on the Apple logo. Google says that this time around, it is looking for users to have more influence over the edits in their specific countries.

Nokia HERE for Android public beta launched

Brittany A. Roston | Jul 13, 2015

Nokia has announced its HERE for Android public beta, allowing Android users (most of them, anyway) to join its public beta group for access to the mapping app’s newest features. As with other public betas, this new arrival is to help the company gather feedback and performance data from across many Android devices and users, and to subsequently iron out any problems before releasing the update to the public in general. There are some requirements to get onboard with it, though.

Bing Maps: big redesign brings predictive routing, more features

Brittany A. Roston | Jul 6, 2015

Microsoft has completely redesigned Bing Maps, it has announced, doing so from a place of ample user feedback and big ambitions. The updated maps are currently in a preview that is available to anyone who wants to opt-in to it, assuming that person is located in the US/UK, Canada, Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, or South Africa. Anyone outside of those regions will eventually get access to it, but it won’t be for a little while. The update pulls in a bunch of data and presents it all in one place, including a new layout and handy “results card”.

Google Earth celebrates 10 year anniversary, adds ‘Voyager’ feature

Lindsey Caldwell | Jun 29, 2015

Ten years ago, today, Google unveiled Google Earth, a magical way to explore the world and surroundings with the click of a mouse. In that time, Google has come a long way, expanding its scenic views via Street View cars and treks. To celebrate, Google Earth is introducing a new feature, Voyager. It's a new layer for Earth that lets you visually explore the world through new and interesting images. Voyager is only available for Google Earth desktop users, but the images are breathtaking, so you'll enjoy seeing them on a bigger screen

Uber nabs Microsoft workers and assets in deal

Brittany A. Roston | Jun 29, 2015

It’s no secret Uber has been moving to nab itself some mapping tech, and so its latest announcement isn’t too surprising: Uber will be acquiring some Bing assets from Microsoft, in particular 100 workers who will be tasked with improving Uber’s own mapping efforts. Early last month, Uber had placed a bid on Nokia's HERE mapping service, underscoring its efforts to improve its own mapping technology. Mapping is central to Uber's business model, being used for its various services from cars rides to food delivery. Update: Statement from Uber after the jump.

HERE’s common sensor language could steer self-driving cars

Chris Davies | Jun 23, 2015

Nokia HERE is hoping to get connected cars speaking a common language, relying on collaborative mapping to help self-driving cars figure out a route. The Car-to-Cloud interface specification has been released under a creative commons license, so that car manufacturers could adopt it without having to cough up fees in the process; each "message" sent by a car would consist of anonymized data, allowing road conditions and unexpected route issues to be shared without intruding on driver privacy.

HERE thinks 3D ghost trains could reassure city folk

Chris Davies | Jun 18, 2015

HERE may be busy fettling its smartphone software as well as courting potential buyers, but it still has time to cook up concepts for future transit apps. Nokia's mapping and navigation team already pipes public transportation for almost 1,000 cities into its current iPhone and Android apps, but is looking at new 3D visualization interfaces that could replace static maps and make it easier to understand where the next bus or train is.

Apple’s Transit adds public transit details to Maps

Brittany A. Roston | Jun 8, 2015

Apple has detailed its transportation efforts at WWDC 2015, kicking off its discussion by saying that its Maps gets 5 billion user requests every week, and that it trumps the next leading mapping app by a factor of 3.5. Apple Maps will be getting Transit directions, it was revealed, allowing one to get all the details they need on transit lines and the time it will take to travel based on them. This lends better support for all the users out there that use public transit, giving a “great map just for them”. Such is Transit.