Apple Sends Out Spy Planes To Challenge Google Maps

Apple has deployed a fleet of airplanes equipped with military-grade cameras to help it create ultra-detailed 3D maps for iOS devices, of cities round the world including London.

The cameras are reportedly using technology developed “from declassified missile targeting methods”, and are capable of displaying objects as small as four inches and mapping vertical walls.

The high resolution pictures will be used in the new iOS Maps feature, expected to be announced this week.

The technology has raised privacy concerns, as, according to Daily Mail, the cameras would be able to “film you sunbathing in your back garden”.

The move by Apple follows the announcement by Google, made last week, detailing plans to create 3D maps for entire metropolitan areas and make them available on Android devices.

Spying on sunbathers

In May, it emerged Apple was to drop Google Maps from its mobile operating system and replace it with a brand new in-house application made using tools developed by Swedish 3D mapping business C3 Technologies, which the company acquired in 2011.

Previously, Apple had bought mapping software companies Placebase and Poly9, prompting rumours of a new map application to rival products by Google, Microsoft and Nokia.

On the website, C3 describes its technology as a combination of automated software and advanced algorithms, which enables it to “rapidly assemble extremely precise 3D models, and seamlessly integrate them with traditional 2D maps, satellite images, street-level photography and user-generated images”. According to the Daily Mail, one C3 executive described it as “Google on steroids”.

According to previous claims, the “Maps” feature will be similar in look and feel to the Google Maps app, but will provide a faster, cleaner and more reliable user experience.

The “spy” planes have already been tested in 20 cities, including London. Their deployment has caused great concern among privacy campaigners.

Google has faced criticism for its Street View feature that saw specially equipped cars taking pictures of whole neighbourhoods, and, as it turned out later, also collecting information from unsecured Wi-Fi hotspots.

Nick Pickles, director of the Big Brother Watch privacy campaign group, told the Sunday Times the new Apple technology was more invasive than Street View because it would “take us over the garden fence”.

Last week, Google announced plans to have 3D coverage of towns and cities with a combined population of 300 million by the end of the year.

“We’re trying to create the illusion that you’re just flying over the city, almost as if you were in your own personal helicopter,” said Peter Birch, a product manager for Google Earth, while describing the new Google Maps experience at a news conference in San Francisco on Wednesday.

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