Original post
Jon Barron#268
Jon Barron#268
YIMBYLAND@YIMBYLAND
Apple just released 3D gaussian splatting on Apple Maps 🤯
This is gonna hit the Urbanist community the way crack cocaine hit 1980s New York.
1:08 PM · Jun 8, 2026 · 115.7K Views
Apple Maps integrates 3D Gaussian Splatting to eliminate distorted trees and melted photogrammetry artifacts
Oblique aerial imagery provides sharper details at ground level.
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Sentiment
Some users praise Apple's 3D Gaussian Splatting addition to Maps for its hyper-realistic city renders and superiority over Google, while others call the tech overhyped or unusable due to platform limits.
Pos
33.3%
Neg
66.7%
11 comments with sentiment.
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VIEWS11.6KBOOKMARKS27LIKES49RETWEETS2
Bilawal Sidhu@bilawalsidhu
want to go deeper down the 3d capture rabbit hole? i have a whole playlist of videos you can binge: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6qSg2I-7_koa7wdoZ5fHYMv7JYUcJ6da&si=F_MocrSFgk3aZng8
includes a fresh interview with the co-creator of google earth + the president of khronos on exactly this tech
Bilawal Sidhu@bilawalsidhu
holy crap! apple just beat google to the punch -- 3d gaussian splatting is coming to apple maps.
these 3d scenes are made from oblique aerial imagery. but unlike blobby photogrammetry -- no more broccoli trees, no more melted powerlines -- ground level detail that actually holds up.
here's hoping google maps/earth follows suite soon -- they have a significantly larger corpus of sensor data to work with. time to splat the world!
8hViews 11.6KLikes 49Bookmarks 27
REPLIES3
Bilawal Sidhu@bilawalsidhu
Apple Beat Google to It! Hyper-Realistic Maps at WWDC 2026 — Gaussian Splats & the ongoing 3D maps land grab to own the substrate that connects the physical and digital world. Hopping on with @RadianceFields to discuss.
Bilawal Sidhu@bilawalsidhu
https://x.com/i/spaces/1aKbddeQlPjJX
4hViews 2.4KLikes 8Bookmarks 0
@YIMBYLAND Apple Maps is indisputably better than Google Maps and has been for some time
8hViews 724Likes 23
Bilawal Sidhu@bilawalsidhu
Come yap about it in our live space with a bunch of 3d gaussian splatting and 3d mapping nerds
Bilawal Sidhu@bilawalsidhu
https://x.com/i/spaces/1aKbddeQlPjJX
3hViews 1.6KLikes 1Bookmarks 1
Midwest Antiquarian@Eric_Erins
@YIMBYLAND Oh nooo I’m about to lose a lot of time to that I fear
7hViews 397Likes 8
camrn@camrn_
@JAYCTII @YIMBYLAND better design but google navigation is better
7hViews 83Likes 2
Absorberandbuilder🇩🇪🇪🇺@absorber247
@YIMBYLAND Hell, im already addicted to google earth, what are they doing to me.
8hViews 553Likes 4
Travis VB@travisvb1
@YIMBYLAND Don’t tempt me with a good time
7hViews 311Likes 4
Blueberry minaj@slaymamas21
@JAYCTII @YIMBYLAND Not for actual navigation lol
7hViews 78Likes 1
David Bui@ghosttyped
@YIMBYLAND its over for me
7hViews 599Likes 2
Aidan T🌐@buildhomez
@YIMBYLAND Not if it's still banned on windows, i'll never use it
8hViews 509Likes 2
Llama@HighLlama
@YIMBYLAND Your mom especially loves splatting.
7hViews 296Likes 1
@camrn_ @YIMBYLAND I like Apple better for using foreign transit systems tbh I feel like it’s easier
7hViews 78Likes 2
JMac@peak_mac
@YIMBYLAND @Esri what you got?
8hViews 292
GIF Responder@jacobsen_t29856
@YIMBYLAND Can confirm
8hViews 291
The Cyclone Cardinal🌪️@CycloneCardinal
@YIMBYLAND lfg
8hViews 241
Hans Werner@HansWerner85760
@YIMBYLAND accurate
7hViews 117
CasaGraphica@CasaGraphicaATX
@YIMBYLAND It's incredible!
7hViews 116
@slaymamas21 @YIMBYLAND idk I just disagree this hasn’t been my experience 😭
7hViews 71
Ali Zein Yousuf@AliZYousuf
@JAYCTII @YIMBYLAND Googles ground truth is industry best by a long shot, however. For actual geodata/nav/etc Google is miles more accurate
7hViews 38
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