Apple might be working on a “Street View”-like feature

[RaduTyrsina]

​

When trying to find a location, some of us might have difficulties with just interpreting the map. That’s why I find very useful the “Street View” application which help users orient themselves by providing them with panoramic views.

And according to a recently revealed patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Apple itself is working to develop such a technology. The patent bears the name “3D Position Tracking for Panoramic Imagery Navigation”.

Apple’s system will certainly be implemented in mobile devices such as the iPhone and iPad and might even improve Google's Street View software. Apple’s approach is quite innovative. The patent describes onboard sensors and tracking technology in charge of picking up the user’s motion and then translating this input into panoramic navigation UI.

To start sliding through the webs of a given city, the user will have to metaphorically slip into the application by taping on a dropped pin icon. With this simple gesture, the user will then be able to unleash the full fledged panoramic view. From there, in order to navigate even further, the user can move the device left or right while images are going to be fed into it via wireless over cellular data connections.

On top of that, the panoramic technology could be designed to interpret the specific movement dubbed “optical flow”. The flow represents objects which, related to the user, are observed moving in patterns. Thus the location of the user might be pinned with some accuracy in the environment.

We’re curious if Apple is going to develop this technology as a stand-alone project or just implemented in the Map App it already has.

Source: BGR