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Apple Maps Flyover Reverse Engineering

Hongwei 8y ago
I recently asked the founder of a pretty big GIS company how they handle plagiarism. The answer: "we don't bother. [we just monetize services on top of open data.]" So it looks like the intentional errors method didn't work out in the end. [1] Wonder if Apple will be as accommodating though :p https://www.gislounge.com/map-traps-intentional-mapping-errors-combat-plagiarism/ https://www.gislounge.com/map-traps-intentional-mapping-erro...
saagarjha 8y ago
I’d be interested in hearing how they reverse engineered the data!
- retroplasma 8y ago
  Mostly used popular tools like Hopper, LLDB, Hex Fiend. Xcode's debugger UI was surprisingly helpful too because it lists current memory allocations of obj-c instances nicely. Also learned about Frida along the way and would have used it more in retrospect.
zhoujianfu 8y ago
I just like how the example is the end of the Santa Monica pier!
vatepuvanu 8y ago
I am making 8 to 10 dollar par hour at home on laptop ,, This is make happy But now i am Working 5 hour Dailly and make 40 dollar Easily .. This is enough for me to happy my family..how ?? i am making this so u can do it Easily.... Click this link http://xurl.es/simplejobs http://xurl.es/simplejobs
pducks32 8y ago
As someone who works with GIS data and map meshes this is really awesome. Hats off to the author.
w-ll 8y ago
I don't think this is satellite data, most likely photos captured from planes. And I'd kinda be curious to what Microsoft has been working on, I remember their birds eye was pretty good a few years ago. Apple I'd believe the are selectively trying to improve their data in areas that are heavily visited by their users. Also, I did for the first time see an Apple branded car with a photo sphere on the roof recently and kinda got excited that they are gonna try and bring competition into maps / street view that Google has dominated for the last decade.
- gibolt 8y ago
  Most of the high resolution imagery is from planes. Previous discussion on how Google Maps' Satellite View was almost named Bird Mode: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19235017 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19235017
- chrisseaton 8y ago
  > I don't think this is satellite data It's a metaphor. Like 'bird's eye view'.
- rootusrootus 8y ago
  The Apple street view cars also have LIDAR, so I'm curious to see what their plan is for that.
  - gugagore 8y ago
    That's probably for making maps used by localization on autonomous cars.
  - threeseed 8y ago
    The most immediate use will likely be for the Apple Glasses which are expected to come out in 2020. LIDAR could definitely assist with identifying what the user is looking at.
  - bluthru 8y ago
    Hopefully 3d street view. You'd want that data for good AR overlays, too.
marmshallow 8y ago
This is awesome. What are people using it for?
aaronbrethorst 8y ago
this is the same person who RE'd Google Earth a couple months ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18900080 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18900080
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
reaperducer 8y ago
Coincidence: Half an hour after reading this thread, a white Subaru with California tags stopped at the red light outside my office window. Big disco ball on a platform attached to the roof and "Apple Maps maps.apple.com" stenciled on the window. I took a picture. https://imgur.com/UwK2wYy https://imgur.com/UwK2wYy
abdarker 8y ago
that's really great

I recently asked the founder of a pretty big GIS company how they handle plagiarism. The answer: "we don't bother. [we just monetize services on top of open data.]" So it looks like the intentional errors method didn't work out in the end. [1] Wonder if Apple will be as accommodating though :p https://www.gislounge.com/map-traps-intentional-mapping-errors-combat-plagiarism/ https://www.gislounge.com/map-traps-intentional-mapping-erro...

saagarjha 8y ago

I’d be interested in hearing how they reverse engineered the data!

retroplasma 8y ago
Mostly used popular tools like Hopper, LLDB, Hex Fiend. Xcode's debugger UI was surprisingly helpful too because it lists current memory allocations of obj-c instances nicely. Also learned about Frida along the way and would have used it more in retrospect.

zhoujianfu 8y ago

I just like how the example is the end of the Santa Monica pier!

vatepuvanu 8y ago

I am making 8 to 10 dollar par hour at home on laptop ,, This is make happy But now i am Working 5 hour Dailly and make 40 dollar Easily .. This is enough for me to happy my family..how ?? i am making this so u can do it Easily.... Click this link http://xurl.es/simplejobs http://xurl.es/simplejobs

pducks32 8y ago

As someone who works with GIS data and map meshes this is really awesome. Hats off to the author.

w-ll 8y ago

I don't think this is satellite data, most likely photos captured from planes. And I'd kinda be curious to what Microsoft has been working on, I remember their birds eye was pretty good a few years ago. Apple I'd believe the are selectively trying to improve their data in areas that are heavily visited by their users. Also, I did for the first time see an Apple branded car with a photo sphere on the roof recently and kinda got excited that they are gonna try and bring competition into maps / street view that Google has dominated for the last decade.

gibolt 8y ago
Most of the high resolution imagery is from planes. Previous discussion on how Google Maps' Satellite View was almost named Bird Mode: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19235017 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19235017
chrisseaton 8y ago
> I don't think this is satellite data It's a metaphor. Like 'bird's eye view'.
rootusrootus 8y ago
The Apple street view cars also have LIDAR, so I'm curious to see what their plan is for that.
- gugagore 8y ago
  That's probably for making maps used by localization on autonomous cars.
- threeseed 8y ago
  The most immediate use will likely be for the Apple Glasses which are expected to come out in 2020. LIDAR could definitely assist with identifying what the user is looking at.
- bluthru 8y ago
  Hopefully 3d street view. You'd want that data for good AR overlays, too.

marmshallow 8y ago

This is awesome. What are people using it for?

aaronbrethorst 8y ago

this is the same person who RE'd Google Earth a couple months ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18900080 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18900080

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

reaperducer 8y ago

Coincidence: Half an hour after reading this thread, a white Subaru with California tags stopped at the red light outside my office window. Big disco ball on a platform attached to the roof and "Apple Maps maps.apple.com" stenciled on the window. I took a picture. https://imgur.com/UwK2wYy https://imgur.com/UwK2wYy

abdarker 8y ago

that's really great