Reports indicate that Apple has confirmed an increased number of on-foot efforts in the U.S. for ground reconnaissance to collect data for Apple Maps. Apparently, the company, which has been performing ground surveys across the world to improve Apple Maps, has also revamped its schedule site for Apple Maps ground data gathering.
Sources with knowledge of the matter informed that pedestrian data collection for Apple Maps is not only happening in the state of California but also in Nevada and Hawaii. Apple had only communicated the addition of foot teams in November, starting with California in the counties of Los Angeles, Alameda, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, San Francisco as well as Santa Clara, where Apple’s Cupertino headquarters is situated.
According to company, data collection in Nevada is presently limited to only Clark county, while the Hawaii reconnaissance consists of the city and county of Honolulu. Apple is aiming to build first party data for its maps with enhanced details, against the mix of third party sources it depended upon previously.
The pedestrian teams, sources say, are probably required for enabling cycling and pedestrian directions on the maps, since generally, Apple Maps shows directions assuming people have to travel on the same roadways as vehicles.
Apple, separately, has also revealed plans to begin data collection using vehicles in Andorra, a country located between Spain and France. Andorra will supposedly start seeing Apple Maps cars on its streets in April this year, the sources mentioned. Besides the U.S., Apple has been scanning the streets of France, Ireland, Croatia, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, Japan, Sweden, Spain and the U.K. since 2015.
Sources further said that in terms of actually implementing extra details in Apple Maps, the company has only added those to Hawaii and California so far, probably owing to the difficulty in gathering and verifying complete data.