Apple Look Around
Apple Look Around is a technology featured in Apple Maps that provides interactive panoramas from positions along a number of streets in various countries. Look Around allows the user to view 360° street-level imagery, with smooth transitions as the scene is navigated. Look Around was introduced with iOS 13 at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2019. It was publicly released as part of iOS 13 on September 19, 2019. Background. In early 2015, vehicles equipped with twelve cameras and lidar sensors were seen in a variety of locations in the United States. These vehicles  were owned by Apple and were also seen in places like the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, and Sweden. In June 2015, Apple stated on its website that the vehicles were collecting data to improve Apple Maps. Also, Apple claimed to secure privacy by making faces and license plates unrecognizable. In 2018 Apple confirmed in an article that it was rebuilding Apple Maps, with the first results rolled out in California. In 2017, Apple had started mapping Spain, Portugal, Croatia, and Slovenia. A year later, in 2018, Apple had started collecting imagery in Japan. In May 2019, Apple announced plans to  begin collecting data for Apple Maps in Canada. In 2019, Apple had started mapping Andorra, Canada, Malta, San Marino, Germany and Australia. During WWDC on June 22, 2020, Apple announced its new maps would be coming to Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Canada later in the year. Overall, Apple had started collecting imagery in Monaco, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Israel, New Zealand and Singapore. During WWDC 2021 on June 7, 2021, Apple announced that Spain and Portugal would receive the new maps that day, with both Australia and Italy getting them later in the year On September 10, 2021 , Apple published new map data in Andorra, Italy, San Marino, and Vatican City. Apple began testing its new maps in Australia on October 19, 2021, publishing the new data on December 9, 2021. Overall in 2021, Apple started collecting imagery in Hungary, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, and Taiwan. On March 7, 2022, Apple started collecting imagery in Greece. As of December 2021, Look Around covers roughly 36 areas, including parts of the United Kingdom (which includes the overseas territory of Gibraltar), Ireland, Canada, Japan, Andorra, Spain (including the Balearic and Canary Islands), Portugal, Italy , San Marino, Australia, and the United States. Refine Location. In iOS 14, Apple released a new feature called Refine Location in Apple Maps, where the user scans the surrounding area and will update their location where there is low-quality data. This works with Look Around, as the same data is used to help with the accuracy of the locations. As of May 2021, The following areas have received the Refine Location feature: Future coverage. According to the company, Apple's vehicles and pedestrians have visited, or are scheduled to visit, the following countries: