Apple hires ‘spy plane’ fleet to produce new Maps app
Apple looks set to take on Google Maps directly after reports emerged of it hiring a fleet of military grade ‘spy planes’ to produce a series of 3d global maps.
The hi definition rival will reproduce details down to just four inches in scale and reproduce the sides of buildings as well as their roofs to produce a full 3d representation of the world.
London is understood to have been the first UK city to be given the aerial scanning treatment with a further 19 global cities also being paid a visit by the planes.
The move follows hot on the heels of Google’s announcement of a new identical project – placing the two digital giants at loggerheads yet again.
Civil liberties campaigners, already irate at Google’s Street View project which saw a fleet of company cars trundle around every road in Britain snapping all that they saw, fear that this latest venture represents a further erosion of privacy.
This fear stems from the fact that that the latest technology allows private gardens to be snapped in unprecedented detail with some even worrying that Apple will be able to peer into individual homes through skylights.