Apple launches new Indoor positioning app: Indoor Survey

By Muthukumar Kumar



Apple has been interested in the indoor positioning industry for a while now. Back in 2013, it acquired WiFiSlam, an indoor positioning startup and iBeacon has been around since iOS7which launched around the same time. Fast forward to today and it seems Apple is on the verge (well, the app is already out in the iTunes store) of releasing its indoor positioning app to the public!

The app titled “Indoor Survey” (don’t bother searching the app store, its only accessible via the direct link, at least so far) has this description,

Description of “Indoor Survey” – Image: iTunes Store

Apple insider tried out to install it 3 days ago and they weren’t successful as Apple still hasn’t really released it to the public. But it was 3 days ago. The app is only compatible with devices running iOS9.0 or higher, so if you have an iDevice check it out and maybe you are lucky (Related: Apple indoor positioning app ‘Indoor Survey’ spotted on iOS App Store).

The app launch doesn’t really come as a surprise, as last year Apple already had all the APIs (CoreLocation API) in place with iOS8 for just such an app! All said, Indoor positioning has really taken off as expected and has been on the fringe of being the “next big thing in marketing” for a few years now. Hopefully, the new Indoor Survey app from Apple will help nudge the indoor positioning market in the right direction.

Source: Geoawesomeness

Foursquare predicts based on location data that Apple will sell 13-15M iPhones this weekend

By Aleks Buczkowski


Analysis of location data can give you answers to many questions. Foursquare is trying to prove that you can use location specific data about people behavioral patterns to predict iPhone sales during the first weekend it hits stores around the world.

The company analyzed foot traffic at Apple stores leading up to the launch of the iPhone 5, 5S, and 6 and combined it with Apple’s public sales data to come up with a prediction that during the launch day foot traffic will be about 360 percent of a typical Friday, which means that iPhone sales could be between 13 million and 15 million over the weekend (last year it was 10m).

Are these estimations correct? One could argue that it’s an easy to make guess. We’ll see next week. You can get some more details on how 4sq did the calculations here.

Below you can find an interesting visualization that shows a foot traffic at the One Stockton Street Apple store in San Francisco during a typical week.

Source

Apple expands Maps Flyover coverage with 20 new cities

By Aleks Buczkowski

Apple Maps are getting better. No one can argue with that. Couple of months ago Apple finally introduced public transit to Maps. It is also working on its own Street View using Apple mapping vans. Already 34 of them are driving across US and Europe and the number of vehicles is growing fast.

But that’s not all. Last week Apple has extended its Map Flyover coverage with 20 new locations.

• Aarhus, Denmark
• Bobbio, Italy
• Budapest, Hungary
• Cádiz, Spain
• Chenonceaux, France
• Dijon, France
• Ensenada, Mexico
• Gothenburg, Sweden
• Graz, Austria
• Loreto, Mexico
• Malmö, Sweden
• Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
• Millau, France
• Nice, France
• Omaha Beach
• Rapid City, SD
• Rotterdam, Netherlands
• Sapporo, Japan
• Strasbourg, France
• Turin, Italy

The Flyover technology comes back to 2011 when Apple acquired C3 Technologies – a Swedish Company specialized 3D modelling based on combined in aerial imagery and Lidar scanning. Flyovers resemble 3D buildings in Google Earth but the production process is done semi-automatically and its based on actual images and shapes rather than sketching, which makes it look more realistic.

I strongly believe that with new Apple mapping vehicles the company is working on the combination of areal data with street level data to make a detailed 3D model of the world. We should see the effects in 1–2 years. I can’t wait to experience it.

Here is a full list of all available Flyover cities as of August 19th, 2015:

Australia, New Zealand:

• Auckland
• Canberra
• Christchurch
• Dunedin
• Nelson
• Perth
• Sydney
• Melbourne
• Wellington

Canada:

• Calgary
• Montreal
• Surrey
• Toronto
• Vancouver

Denmark, Finland, Sweden:

• Aarhus
• Copenhagen
• Gothenburg
• Helsingborg
• Helsinki
• Linköping
• Malmö
• Odense
• Stockholm
• Roskilde
• Visby

France, Monaco:

• Bordeaux
• Chambord
• Chenonxeaux
• Côte d’Azur (including Marseille, Nice)
• Dijon
• Le Mans
• Lyon
• Paris
• Perpignan
• Millau
• Monaco
• Mont Saint-Michel
• Montpellier
• Nimes
• Reims
• Rennes
• Saint Etienne
• Saint-Tropez
• Strasbourg

Germany, Austria

• Berlin
• Graz
• Cologne
• Hamburg
• Karlsruhe
• Kiel
• Linz
• Munich

Ireland:

• Cork
• Cliffs of Moher
• Dublin

Italy:

• Ancona
• Bari
• Bobbio
• Rome
• Milan
• Turin
• Paestum
• Perugia
• Venice

Japan:

• Sapporo
• Tokyo

Hungary, Czech Republic:

• Brno
• Budapest

Mexico:

• Chichen Itza
• Culiacán
• Ensenada
• Guadalajara
• Teotihuacán

The Netherlands:

• Rotterdam

Portugal:

• Braga

Spain:

• Alicante
• Almería
• Badajoz
• Barcelona
• Cáceres
• Cádiz
• Cordoba
• Jerez de la Frontera
• Huelva
• Madrid
• Sevilla
• Valencia

South Africa:

• Cape Town
• Durban

United Kingdom:

• Belfast
• Birmingham
• Edinburgh
• Glasgow
• Kingston upon Hull
• Leeds
• Liverpool
• London
• Manchester
• Wolverhampton

United States:

• Aguadilla, Puerto Rico
• Albany, NY
• Arecibo, Puerto Rico
• Arches National Park
• Arlington, MA
• Arlington, TX
• Atlanta, GA
• Austin, TX
• Bakersfield,CA
• Baltimore, MD
• Baton Rouge, LA
• Beverly Hills, CA
• Boise, ID
• Boston, MA
• Buffalo, NY
• Century City, CA
• Chicago, IL
• Cleveland, OH
• Cupertino, CA
• Dallas, TX
• Denver, CO
• Fort Worth, TX
• Green Bay, WI
• Honolulu, HI
• Hoover Dam, AZ
• Houston, TX
• Indianapolis, IN
• Las Vegas, NV
• Long Beach, CA
• Los Angeles, CA
• Memphis, TN
• Miami, FL
• Milwaukee, WI
• Minneapolis, MN
• Modesto, CA
• Mayagüez, PR
• Mount Rushmore, SD
• Nashville, TN
• New Orleans, LA
• New York, NY
• Oakland, CA
• Philadelphia, PA
• Phoenix, AZ
• Ponce, Puerto Rico
• Portland, ME
• Portland, OR
• Providence, RI
• Rapid City
• Sacramento, CA
• Saint Paul, MN
• Salem, OR
• San Antonio, TX
• San Diego, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• San Jose, CA
• San Juan, PR
• Santa Monica, CA
• Seattle, WA
• Stanford University, CA
• Stockton, CA
• Tacoma, WA
• Tulsa, OK
• Zion National Park, Utah