Apple Look Around

Apple Look Around is a technology featured in Apple Maps that provides interactive panoramas from positions along a small number of streets in the United States. 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.^[1]

Background

An Apple Maps vehicle driving through St. Charles, Missouri in June 2015

An Apple Maps van in Havre, Montana in July 2018

An Apple Maps car near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in June 2019

In early 2015, vehicles equipped with twelve cameras and lidar sensors were seen in a variety of places throughout the United States. These vehicles were owned by Apple. 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 .^[2]

In May 2019, Apple announced plans to begin collecting data for Apple Maps in Canada.^[3]

Timeline of introductions

2019

#	Release date	Major locations added
1	Thursday, September 19, 2019^[4]	San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Cruz, Las Vegas, Oahu
2	Monday, September 30, 2019	Los Angeles , New York City ^[5]
3	Monday, November 18, 2019	Houston

Coverage

Locations with Look Around
Country	Region
United States	Houston
	Las Vegas
	Los Angeles
	New York City
	Oahu
	San Francisco Bay Area
	Santa Cruz

Image collection

According to the company, Apple's vehicles have driven through the following countries:^[6]

Country	Vehicle Locations
Australia	Adelaide, Australian Capital Territory, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Tasmania, Queensland
Canada	Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan
Croatia	Split-Dalmatia County, Sibenik-Knin County
France	Île-de-France
Germany	Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Thuringia
Ireland	Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Silgo, Tipperary, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford, Wicklow
Italy	Abruzzo, Aosta Valley, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy, Marche, Molise, Piedmont, Sardinia, Sicily, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Tuscany, Umbria, Veneto
Japan	Ibaraki Prefecture, Saitama Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, Aichi Prefecture, Mie Prefecture, Shiga Prefecture, Kyoto Prefecture, Osaka Prefecture, Hyōgo Prefecture, Nara Prefecture
Malta	Malta
Portugal	Portugal continental
San Marino	San Marino
Spain	Andalusia, Catalonia, Community of Madrid, Valencian Community, Galicia, Castile and León, Basque Country, Castilla-La Mancha, Canary Islands, Region of Murcia, Aragon, Extremadura, Balearic Islands, Asturias, Navarre, Cantabria, La Rioja
Sweden	Skåne County, Stockholm County, Uppsala County
United Kingdom	Gibraltar, England , Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Channel Islands, Isle of Man
United States	Full coverage scheduled to appear in all 50 states by the end of 2019^[7]
United States	Puerto Rico