Excitement may be mounting for the launch of the iPhone 5 but Google are readying their guns to take on one of its hot new features. We’re aware that Apple have wanted to distance their Maps application from Google’s location services for a little while and it appears that iOS 6 will be the turning point in the story, where the company debut their all-new, in-house maps application, which offers amongst a variety of new options, 3D mapping.
A video showcase of the technology is already online (check out our article here), but Google aren’t going to let this shift pass them by. Although the company may be losing out on their direct tie to iOS devices, their own 3D technology has just been showcased in a rather spectacular video that’s set to tackle Apple’s new 3D maps feature head on.
So the applications of this new technology may not be apparent, but chances are, with the calibre of high performance smartphones available now, it won’t be long before we see this technology on Android devices. Based on the time of this reveal, there’s every chance the feature will grace Google Maps on Android 4.1, but more likely we won’t see it until it arrives with Android 5.0 Jelly Bean later in the year.
The technology at work will be used in major cities across the world and structures are said to be created to an accurate scale. What’s more, Google are also similarly bringing new features to Google Earth’s iOS and Android apps. Tour Guide will allows users to navigate to POIs and suggests attractions. There’s even rumblings of Google Maps becoming available in full-offline mode.
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