Apple Acquires Mapping Company, iMap Probably Not Far Away

News is out that Apple was the company who had acquired C3 Technologies last August (and shut it down). C3 is a mapping company known for its capacity to build maps that include 3D buildings,  textures and all (like Nokia does). Unlike many mapping companies that rely on a combination of satellite photos and GPS information, C3 could build maps and textured building models with planes (see video in the full post). This is a technique that allows for multiple (relatively shallow) angles, which is necessary to create textures for every sides of buildings, and that is simply impossible with high altitude satellites. The downside of this technique is that the amount of terrain covered by a plane is much smaller than what a satellite can cover. That said, Apple can probably buy the “big picture” data from someone else. Anyway, you can guess where this is going…