This capture was just holding an iPhone in my hand - but you can place it on the front of a bicycle too.
The Apple ARKit part handles the SLAM [1] of fusing the camera/LiDAR/gyro and possibly GPS.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simultaneous_localization_and_...
The problem (I guess) is that aerial/satellite/orthorectified are not equivalent.
Yep I agree - I would call it orthorectified georeferenced imagery but unless you're in the GIS/OSM space you probably don't know what that means. I agree that "birds-eye" would have been a good alternative.
Satellite imagery is technically incorrect whether it's from a iPhone or a plane but that's what most people call it and know it by. (I love this thread on how "satellite" almost became known as "bird mode": https://twitter.com/btaylor/status/1099370126678253569)
I chose aerial imagery as an in-between - understandable to everyone, still not correct but less incorrect than satellite imagery.
Not an issue of yours, it's all a matter of context -- and how closely one reads the article while trying to get an idea of what it's about. I just happen to be in the OSM ecosystem deep enough to be very familiar with the word aerial (as opposed to other types of area photographies), but not deep enough into the Apple sphere to know the capabilities of these devices and realize what the title clearly must mean. It might just be a me-issue :)
Do you know the functional limit of the iPhone’s LiDAR? Ie: could I strap my Pro to my old DJI drone and create some photogrammetry of my house or whatever?
Yep that should be possible - as long as you flow below 5 metres though!
If you have a drone and are somewhere that is legal & safe to fly, photogrammetry (3d model from just visual photos) will likely give a better result than relying on the iPhone LiDAR stitching.
Set the drone image self timer to 2 seconds, fly around for a bit and then upload all the photos into WebODM: https://opendronemap.org/webodm/
You can run it on your local machine (see instructions in blog post) or hosted for a fee. It creates brilliant models and is a lot of fun!
> it usually entails flying low enough to annoy your neighbors
In my experience the higher the better - you can get a really nice model from 120m (legal limit in Australia).