@TrungTPhan: The Apple Maps turnaround is impressive. iPhone started with Google Maps broke up after Google withheld voice-guided na…
Summary
A tweet discusses Apple Maps' impressive turnaround from initial failures to billions invested in proprietary mapping data, and highlights a patent where AirPods with cameras could provide visual intelligence for natural-sounding navigation directions.
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Cached at: 06/18/26, 04:06 AM
The Apple Maps turnaround is impressive.
iPhone started with Google Maps broke up after Google withheld voice-guided navigation (competitive advantage for Android) in 2012, started using TomTom data but sucked so bad Tim Cook apologized now spent billions mapping >4 million miles of proprietary street level maps data with specialized vans and people wearing goofy Apple backpack cameras walking around town (see below)
The cherry on top is using its powerful custom silicon to give AirPods visual intelligence and tell users “turn right when you see the massive pile of dog doo doo” instead of “turn right in 100m.”
Trung Phan (@TrungTPhan): AirPods with camera aren’t for taking photo or video. But will be used to give visual intelligence to Siri.
A recent Apple navigation patent shows use case: instead of saying “turn right in 100m”, the AirPod camera can see and provide natural-sounding directions such as “turn
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