U.S. tech giant Apple will dispatch its cars to Vietnam to run around local streets and roads to collect data in order to support the Look Around feature.
Look Around is a technology featured in Apple Maps, enabling users to view 360° street-level imagery, with smooth transitions as the scene is navigated.
Apart from the presence of Apple cars, the Southeast Asian nation will also welcome many visitors carrying a backpack equipped with modern sensors that are aimed at garnering data to improve Apple Maps.
The images of Apple cars and pedestrians using the backpack systems to collect data for Apple Maps are easily seen in several countries around the world.
Apple has announced that it will deploy these special-use vehicles equipped with Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensors in Vietnam as a way to make a significant breakthrough in its digital mapping aspect in the country.
A pedestrian using a backpack system walks around to collect data for the Look Around feature. Photo: The Sun |
The plan is meant to level up the fidelity and abundance of Apple Maps, whose world popularity comes after Google Maps.
Google Maps takes the lead among web mapping platforms worldwide.
Financial news and financial literacy website TheStreet reported that Google Maps holds the top position among digital maps, commanding a 70-percent market share.
Apple Maps comes second, but its market share stands at a mere 10 percent.
Apple Maps lags far behind Google Maps due to its weak universality, and the limited fidelity and abundance of information in some countries such as Vietnam.
Look Around is yet to be available in Vietnam, while the Vietnamese have used Google Street View, which functions similarly to the former, for several years.
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