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Apple patents animated maps that could be activated by 3D Touch

Three-dimensional Flyover aerial photography in Apple Maps is cool, but wouldn’t it be great if things like water, foliage and other dynamic objects were animated based on touch, motion and sound?

Apple also describes how the animations could be presented differently based on various types of device input, such as touch, gestures, audio, and motion.

First filed for in March 2013, the patent outlines animating a three-dimensional map by using a set of camera-captured images that correspond to a portion of the 3D map. An image processing module would then render the assets and animate specific map elements such as water ripples, realtime reflections and more.

Assigning animation assets to specific map elements would come with the added benefit of letting users trigger them by touching on-screen objects. In other embodiments, Apple proposes using the iPhone’s sensors to create dynamic animations.
“To enhance the illusion, water and other map assets can be animated based on motion, with waves forming when a user shifts an iPhone’s position, orientation or tilt,” reads the article.
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