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‘Elevated New York City’ on Apple Vision Pro Made Me Homesick

The latest location for Apple’s Elevated series of immersive flyovers for Vision Pro is New York City, the description for which reads:

Glide above the Big Apple’s shimmering spires and down its iconic streets. From the neon sizzle of Times Square to the Statue of Liberty’s beacon of hope, let the voices of New York—and songs celebrating the city’s magic—be your guide.

Elevated is much like the Aerials Cityscape screensavers on Apple TV, but with narration and music and, of course, the immersive experience of Vision Pro, which makes it feel like you’re in the scene, rather than merely observing it.

Unlike the other Elevated shorts (Hawai’i, Maine, Switzerland), New York City’s entry takes you down to street level, not just hundreds or thousands of feet in the air. New York was my home for nearly two decades, and flying through the neighborhoods to the sounds—and, I swear, smells—of New York made me surprisingly nostalgic for my old stomping grounds, to the point of almost wanting to move back. Say what you will about the modest success of Vision Pro, but it totally nails the immersive part. I was completely transported. (The first company to do immersive walking tours of New York and other cities can take all the money. immersivewalkingtours.com, anyone?)

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