Apple today announced that its Apple Maps vehicles are now surveying Canada for the first time over the summer months.
The vehicles will drive across all 10 provinces between May and November, including British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island. The vehicles have already been spotted in the Toronto area.
Absent from Apple's list are the northern territories of Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, which are sparsely populated.
The data collected, including the likes of road details, signage, and landmarks, will be used to improve Apple Maps as part of Apple's efforts to rebuild the service, which began in the United States.
Apple's full statement:
Beginning in May, Apple Maps will be driving across Canada throughout the summer. We'll be capturing road details, signage and landmarks — all to make the most accurate and useful Maps experience possible. The information collected will be worked on by our teams in Cupertino, California. We plan to publish this data in a future product update.
We always have your privacy in mind, so we're working closely with local regulators to ensure we follow all laws and regulations. All of our vehicles are marked Apple Maps, so you'll always know it's us.
Privacy is a fundamental Apple principle, so we're proud to build it into everything we do.
Apple Maps vehicles have also surveyed parts of the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, France, Spain, Sweden, Slovenia, Portugal, Croatia, Japan, Andorra, and Puerto Rico since data collection began in 2015.
Beyond improvements to Apple Maps, it has long been speculated that the data collected could benefit Apple's development of self-driving technologies or pave the way for Apple to launch its own Street View, but there is no concrete evidence at this point to suggest that either of those possibilities are true.
