Apple Patent Hints At Their Own Version Of Google Street View

You would think after what Apple went through with its Maps application which was released on iOS 6, they would try to copy Google a lot less considering how much everyone, even Apple themselves , hated the results. But it looks as though they may be following in Google’s footsteps as a new patent was filed by Apple showing something that looks a lot like Google Street View.

Apple’s “3D Position Tracking for Panoramic Imagery Navigation” was published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently and it describes a user interface, which when combine with the iPhone or iPad’s sensors, will allow the user to navigate a panoramic image. Apple’s filing hints at possibly improving current technology which has users jumping to a panoramic “bubble” towards a given intersection to then pan within the bubble to view and move towards a location. Apple wants to improve on this experience by using a combination of data from their iOS device’s accelerometers, cameras, gyroscopes and additional sensors to “move” the user through a virtual street-level panoramic image.

Daniel Perez
Categories: Apple, Cellphones, Tablets
Tags: apple patent, Google, google street view, Patent, street view