Over the weekend, there was a report that Apple did indeed acquire 3D mapping company C3 Technologies. In our original profile of the company, we mentioned that it was purchased in part from Saab AB, a Swedish aerospace and defense company.
The technology had originally been developed for military purposes such as missile targetting. Here's a video of how the mapping data is obtained:
Technology Review previously described the process:
C3's models are generated with little human intervention. First, a plane equipped with a custom-designed package of professional-grade digital single-lens reflex cameras takes aerial photos. Four cameras look out along the main compass points, at oblique angles to the ground, to image buildings from the side as well as above. Additional cameras (the exact number is secret) capture overlapping images from their own carefully determined angles, producing a final set that contains all the information needed for a full 3-D rendering of a city's buildings. Machine-vision software developed by C3 compares pairs of overlapping images to gauge depth, just as our brains use stereo vision, to produce a richly detailed 3-D model.
Top Rated Comments
I still find even the regular Google Maps to be an amazing achievement. A data-set of photos covering the entire planet at pretty close range. And we all have access. For free. That's insanely great in my book.
Yeah, Big Ben and Wimbley kind of give it away. :D
That's cool, Chris. But I think you don't realize that Nokia/Ovi technology was actually licensed from C3 Technologies (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/19/idUS246491+19-Apr-2011+BW20110419).
So... they look the same... because they ARE the same... but the point is that apparently now Apple owns the technology. :D
I wonder how long it took that one google street view van to drive on every single road in the world.
Which brings up another point ... When will Apple have their own satellites to augment iCloud? They can afford it ;)
Just to put it in perspective, mapping of our planet has been going on for more that 2,000 year.