Apple’s spiffy Look Around feature may be about to work with additional countries in the future, as the company’s imaging vehicles have been spotted in driving around Israel, New Zealand, and Singapore to collect images used to generate the street-level views.
Look Around, which was introduced in iOS 13 and later macOS Big Sur, is Apple Maps’ answer to Google Maps’ Streetview feature. Using images captures by Apple Maps vehicles, Apple is provided data with which to create scrollable street level views of given locations.
The Apple Maps Image Collection page, which lists countries and regions, the type of image collection mechanism being used, and when the capturing is taking place, has been updated with details relating to three countries. Current listings now include Israel, Singapore, and New Zealand, where vehicles have been active in various parts of each territory.
Per Israel, vehicles are passing through the Central, Haifa, Jerusalem, Northern, Southern, and Tel Aviv districts from October until March. The same was used for the Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington regions of New Zealand. For Singapore, the capture period is briefer, running from November until January, with five regions being covered: Central, North East, North West, South East, and South West.
It’s unknown as to when Apple will use the collected images, or whether Look Around could be expanded within these areas sometime in the future.
In December, Apple rolled out Look Around in Canada, offering the ability to view select parts of cities including Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto. Other recent expansions include four cities in the United States, and London, Edinburgh, and Dublin in the U.K.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via AppleInsider and MacRumors