mapping

New Eos Bridge makes positioning instruments iOS-compatible

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Eos Bridge gives almost any positioning instrument iOS Bluetooth compatibility.
Eos Bridge gives almost any positioning instrument iOS Bluetooth compatibility.
Photo: Eos Positioning Systems

Montreal-based Eos Positioning Systems, known for its Arrow Series GNSS receivers, has released Eos Bridge. The device clips on your belt and gives almost any positioning instrument iOS Bluetooth compatibility.

Just by way of background, GNSS stands for Global Navigation Satellite Systems. As such, it underlies the better-known Global Positioning System (GPS) used in the U.S. and elsewhere. GPS is one of five GNSS constellations in play around the world, and the oldest one. You can learn more here.

DuckDuckGo offers private driving and walking directions

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DuckDuckGo gets you where you’re going without tracking you.
DuckDuckGo can get you where you’re going without tracking you.
Photo: DuckDuckGo

The privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo added directions to its mapping features. Users can get step-by-step routing info without giving up their privacy.

The mapping data offered by the site comes from Apple’s MapKit JS.

Apple employee spotted walking streets wearing giant backpack with sensors

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Apple Maps
Google has been doing this for years.
Photo: Dante Cesa

Apple’s mapping fleet is moving on two feet to get a closer look at your local streets.

We’ve seen Apple’s mapping vans roaming the U.S. for years now, but this week an Apple employee was spotted walking around San Francisco with a huge backpack that packed a bunch of sensors to gather data for the Apple Maps revamp.

Check out the setup:

These are the malls and airports Apple provides indoor maps for

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Apple started offering indoor mapping with iOS 11
Photo: A.Savin/Wikipedia CC

One of the iOS 11 features you may not know about is that Apple now offers indoor mapping support for a growing number of international airports and malls.

While the number of airports and malls covered is still relatively small — with 34 airports, mostly based in the U.S., and a handful of shopping malls — Apple has published a list of where these are located.

What Apple’s Massive 2013 Buying Spree Means For The Future [Year In Review]

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Apple may as well run Cupertino.
Apple may as well run Cupertino.
Photo: Benjamin Feenstra

It was widely reported in January that Apple was in talks to buy Waze, an Israeli startup with a hugely popular maps app. Waze was rumored to be asking Apple for $750 million. The same outlet that broke the acquisition rumor quickly backpedaled and said no such deal was taking place. Google ended up buying Waze in June for $1 billion.

And so goes the buyout game in Silicon Valley, a power play where tech giants like Apple and Google court hot startups with the hopes of adding them to their war chests.

Apple had its biggest year ever for acquisitions in 2013, with a record 15 smaller companies joining the fold. A dozen of them have now been publicly disclosed.

For an entity as secretive as Apple, examining the companies it buys is one of the only ways to peek into its future plans. When AuthenTec, a company that specialized in fingerprint readers and identification software, was purchased in July 2012, speculation immediately followed. What did Apple want with fingerprint sensors? The answer ended up being obvious, and the technology debuted in Touch ID in September 2013.

Often the outcome of an Apple acquisition isn’t so immediately apparent.

Historically, Apple acquires far fewer companies than its competitors. But the line is starting to blur. Google publicly bought three times as many companies as Apple in 2012 and not even twice as many in 2013. Apple bought more companies than Microsoft in 2013.

So what does all of this say about Apple’s future?

Apple To Use PrimeSense Tech For Indoor Mapping?

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iOS 7 could soon have many of the capabilities of the Xbox 360 Kinect.
iOS 7 could soon have many of the capabilities of the Xbox 360 Kinect.

It’s the third most asked question next to “did I make the right choice of next generation iPad?” and “why is it so cold at the moment?” (I’m writing this post from England) — but what exactly does Apple plan to do with PrimeSense?

Having acquired the Israel-based 3D-motion tracking company behind the original Xbox Kinect for an estimated $360 million, most people assumed that Apple would use the technology to incorporate motion tech into its long-awaited television-based hardware.

According to Washington Post tech journalist Jessica Lessin, however, that’s not right at all.

Apple Buys WiFiSLAM, A Small Startup That Specializes In Indoor Mapping [Report]

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wifislam

Apple has purchased a small startup called WiFiSLAM, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal. The two-year-old company specializes in indoor mapping, which is something Google has already been doing with Google Maps for some time.

Since Apple debuted its own mapping technology in iOS 6, it’s been working to bring its service up to par with Google Maps. WiFiSLAM’s expertise could very well be used to improve Apple Maps, and the acquisition also bodes well for another Apple service, Passbook.

iOS 6 Code Indicates Apple’s New Maps Service Could Be Coming To OS X

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Why would Apple's new Maps app include references to Intel based graphics chipsets in its code?
Why would Apple's new Maps app include references to Intel based graphics chipsets in its code?

Apple purchasing several mapping companies over the last fews years, Apple is finally replacing Google Maps with its own solution in iOS 6. But it seems the Cupertino company may be planning to expand it beyond iOS. One developer has discovered some code within the iOS 6 beta that indicates Maps will also be coming to OS X later on.

Amazon Follows Apple, Google Into 3D Mapping With UpNext Acquisition

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Amazon follows Apple and Google into 3D mapping.
Amazon follows Apple and Google into 3D mapping.

Following Apple’s Google’s leap into 3D mapping technologies, Amazon has acquired a 3D mapping startup of its own. The online retail giant today sealed a deal to purchase UpNext in a move that could signal the company’s intentions to bring 3D maps to its Kindle Fire slate without any assistance from Google.

One U.S. Senator Is Worried Apple’s Detailed 3D Maps Will Aid Criminals & Terrorists

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View some of the most beautiful cities and landmarks in the world with Flyover.
These detailed images could be blurred in places if one U.S. Senator has his way.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s new Maps app that’s coming to iOS 6 looks really incredible. Its detailed 3D maps blow the traditional satellite view right out of the water, and allow you to view high resolution images of cities like San Francisco, Chicago, Las Vegas, and more. But what happens when those detailed images get into the wrong hands.

Well, U.S. Senator for New York, Charles E. Schumer, is worried the detailed images could be used to aid criminals and terrorists, and he has privacy concerns over the military-grade spy planes Apple uses to capture these images.

This Is What iOS 6’s Revolutionary New Maps Application Looks Like [Gallery]

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BGR's composite mock-up based upon a series of images of iOS 6's new Maps.app leaked to them from within Apple.

Rumor has had it for the past few months that Apple was going to phase out its reliance upon Google’s Maps API in iOS 6 in favor of its own revolutionary new mapping system, which it has been working on off-and-on since 2009. Now Boy Genius Report has exclusive images of what they say is the new iOS 6 Maps app in action, and boy, if the composite mock-up they put together based on those images is anything to go by,  it looks like a total game changer.

Apple Will Ditch Google Maps In iOS 6 In Favor Of Its Own 3D Maps Service [Rumor]

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Apple's 3D maps service is expected to get its debut in iOS 6.
Apple's 3D maps service is expected to get its debut in iOS 6.

Following Apple’s acquisition of several mapping companies over the years, it has always seemed inevitable that the company would one day wave goodbye to Google Maps in iOS in favor of its own, in-house service. That’s exactly what will happen when iOS 6 makes its debut later this year, according to one report.

Apple is expected to launch its own maps service, which offers an innovative 3D view mode, allowing you to view city stunning cityscapes in all their glory.

Ambitious New Bing App Update Adds Even More Features

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bing update  6

We’re pretty up on the iPhone’s Bing app; its ability to combine the useful functions of several different stand-alone apps earned it a spot on our 23 Essential Apps list for the iPhone earlier this year.

But Microsoft is apparently even more ambitious: they’ve just updated Bing with some new abilities — including location-based reminders, a Google Maps Street View-like feature and more — to the point where it seems as if Microsoft is trying to turn Bing into some kind of uber-app. The whole thing’s also been given a facelift, and the results pages are less cluttered (even though the front page still needs work). It’s worth a download, even if, at the very least, just to gawk at its application of technology. Here’s a list of all the new stuff: