Apple uses portable camera systems to map pedestrian areas its vehicles cannot reach. Credit: nifunifa712 / X Apple has taken its street-mapping cameras beyond the road, sending backpack-equipped surveyors through pedestrian areas of Madrid and Cataluña. While faces and number plates are blurred before publication, homes are obscured only if a person requests it, and anonymised images may also be used to train AI. Apple’s cameras are reaching places its vehicles cannot Apple conducted backpack surveys in Cataluña from March 30 to June 23, 2026, and in the Community of Madrid until July 1, according to the company’s official image-collection schedule