Apple Maps Vehicles | Hacker News Reader

Apple Maps Vehicles

maps.apple.com

20 pointsqzervaas10 comments

I'm surprised there aren't any companies already doing this and selling the data to the street level image newcomers.

That would be a nice business but it has a high entry point and a short life overall. Also, doing the same thing, the same way, that competitors have done is foolish. Maybe if there was a model where people could submit their drives with a gopro or something. Then the model would be a middleman for the data.

>That would be a nice business but it has a high entry point and a short life overall.

High entry point = lack of competitors.

As for the short life: New development is always occurring, meaning up to date images will always be needed. These cars could also be contracted out to real estate firms to take up to date photos of neighborhoods where new development is proposed.

>Also, doing the same thing, the same way, that competitors have done is foolish.

They've done the hard part and validated and created the market for street level photos. I wouldn't consider Google, Bing, and Apple as competitors unless they sell their street level data. Perhaps they do, then I would be uninterested.

This business model wouldn't be the same as Google, Bing, and Apple either. They are using street images to create a better UX for maps. This idea would be using street images to sell to enterprises who would then use this data for whatever purposes. B2C vs. B2B.

Check out Mapillary. Crowd-sourced street-level imagery. Not really comparable to professionally captured imagery imo.

One of GigWalk's first big customers was a deal with Microsoft to capture images of storefronts for Bing Maps: http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/techflash/2011/07/gi...

HERE Maps (of Nokia) does street level imagery plus lidar data. Apple could have licensed their data.

I believe this is completely unnecessary. Not that competition is not good but in this case they are just wasting money that could have otherwise been used to innovate in something else.

Really? Street level images are something Apple needs if they want to be a true contender with maps. Maps apps are some of the most used apps and it's in Apple's best interest to be up to speed with competition so users won't just use Google maps and form a gap in the Apple ecosystem.

Like, perhaps, a car?

Majority of what Apple does is completely unnecessary. They do it because they want to provide the best integration they can.

And they have ~180 billion in cash collecting nothing but interests. I'm sure the interests alone are paying for these "unnecessary" expenses.

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