iOS: camera zoom, Siri, other new features (6.10.0 is out)

[Anders]

Hey all, this is a pretty big update with some new features and bug fixes.

You can now zoom in the camera view to avoid capturing the hood etc by simply pinching:

We also added zoom/pan to images that hasn’t been uploaded:

You can now also rotate all maps (and reset the rotation by tapping on the compass):

And finally we have added shortcuts (Shortcuts app and Siri):

These phrases are currently supported:

Open Mapillary:
“Open Mapillary”
“Launch Mapillary”

Start capture:
“Start capture in Mapillary”
“Start capturing with Mapillary”
“Capture with Mapillary”

Stop capture:
“Stop capture in Mapillary”
“Stop capturing with Mapillary”
“Stop Mapillary capture”

Upload captures:
“Upload Mapillary images”
“Upload Mapillary photos”
“Upload captures to Mapillary”
“Start Mapillary upload”
“Upload to Mapillary”
“Send captures to Mapillary”

Complete release notes

New features:

• Enabled pinch-to-zoom on camera screen
• Enabled 2-finger map rotation on maps
• Enabled pinch-to-zoom on captured (not yet uploaded) imagery
• Added iOS Shortcuts/Siri Shortcuts support for starting capture/upload etc
• Added “This image is a duplicate” to image report form
• Reduced sequence cutoff distance to 100 meters
• “My coverage” setting is now persisted
• Localization updates

Bug fixes:

• Fixed bug where importing RAW images would crash the app
• Fixed bug where nothing would work on Camera screen if the Location services were not enabled
• Fixed bug where error messages on Camera screen were not rotated if orientation lock was enabled
• Fixed bug where grippy icon missing from bottom sheet
• Fixed bug where the app would crash when signing out
• Fixed bug where sequences remained cached with ‘Finalizing’ status even if they were ‘Finished’
• Fixed bug where sequences remained cached with ‘Processing’ status even if they were ‘Failed’
• Fixed bug where user was not taken to Homepage on iOS 15 after signing up
• Fixed bug where the captures from the previous user could still be visible on Homepage after logging in with a different account
• Fixed bug where the screen remained blocked in landscape mode after tapping on the Camera button while upload was ongoing
• Fixed bug where the screen had a small flicker when scrolling down and then back up on the Homepage
• Fixed bug where the screen would flash momentarily when opening an image and then going back
• Fixed bug where the map in Profile could not be accessed if captures were ‘Finalizing’
• Fixed bug where ‘Tilt your phone up’ and ‘Turn phone to capture’ were displayed at the same time changing device orientation in Camera
• Fixed bug where Camera view was upside down after minimizing and re-opening the app if orientation lock was enabled
• Fixed bug where Camera capture was still possible if precise location permission was turned off
• Fixed bug where screen would get distorted momentarily after Camera was exited
• Fixed bug where screen orientation would get stuck in horizontal mode after accessing camera during upload

Thanks for contributing to Mapillary, and let me know if you run into any issues!

/Anders

[boris]

Love the little videos showing the new functionality!

[GITNE]

Thank you for the graphic display of features. Good job!

@Anders

You can now zoom in the camera view to avoid capturing the hood etc by simply pinching

While all other updates are highly appreciated, I am not sure that particularly the zoom function – or rather crop function (at least I hope this is the way it has been implemented) – for capturing is a good thing, especially in the mobile apps. The mobile apps are often the lowest barrier entry point for new contributors. This is where newcomers learn the “do and do nots” of capturing for mapping. The primary solution to avoid hoods and other things obstructing the view is not to crop images but to position the camera properly in the first place. If you need a tripod or other mount to accomplish this then so be it, otherwise go with what you have (your hood). Sure, all contributors can post-process their imagery in any way they want, including cropping like in this example, but this function in the Mapillary mobile app is dangerous for multiple reasons:

1. It reduces the resolution and the amount of effective pixels for data extraction. Do not worry so much about any potential hood etc. in the image. Worry more about the other lost “non-hood” effective pixels.
2. It reduces the field of view and consequently modifies the projection geometry.
3. It can easily teach bad habits to newcomers. Adding camera or user generated overlays is already bad enough. Do not pile on with this function.

[boris]

@GITNE - this is fair feedback, and generally we agree. For example, as you know we recently added wide angle lens support and default to that on iPhones to capture as much as possible. We also recommend this phone mount (we specifically tested a number of them to find ones that would help with proper positioning of the phone with wide angle enabled to reap the benefits you mention).

It’s also worth noting that as part of this feature we only allow zooming up to 5x which is an optical zoom on iPhones (05x, 1x, 3x, 5x are all optical - digital is only used in-between - so the end result is quite sharp). As you mentioned phones are lowest barrier entry point for new contributors - and when folks are getting started they may not have bought the right phone mount yet, so this is a way to help them gently onboard.

Overall though, fully agreed with your recommendations to capture as wide FOV as possible and to avoid zooming when possible - which we’ll continue to emphasize.

[GITNE]

Thank you for the clarification @boris. I was not aware that some iPhones support optical zoom. @Anders’ example looks like it is digital zooming, which may effectively involve scaling or cropping. Like you say, imho as long as the app limits the user to optical zoom steps only (no digital zooming/scaling) then it should be fine.