Hasta La Gadget!

Google Maps has been updated with what’s described as the “biggest ever” increase in Street View photography, with more than 250,000 miles of road around the world gaining street-level imagery. Street View coverage has been boosted in eleven countries, while new “special collections” of photography – giving more insight into particular landmarks – have been added to over six new locations.

The new sidewalk-level images have been added to roads in the US, the UK, Macau, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, Taiwan, Italy, Denmark, Norway and Canada. Meanwhile, there are special collections in South Africa, Japan, Spain, France, Brazil and Mexico, among other locations, for instance the Ferapontov monastery in Russia and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taiwan.

Google has also sent its cameras inside some landmarks, so you can now step into Kronborg castle in Denmark, for instance. The search giant uses a combination of Street View photography cars, bikes, and even individually-work camera backpacks to gather its footage.

Support for viewing Street View on mobile devices has been contentious in recent weeks, with Apple’s decision to oust Google Maps from iOS 6 and replace it with its own Apple Maps app meaning iPhone 5 and other iOS device users lost the ability to see street-level images. Google re-added access by updating its webapp, however, and has promised a native version of Google Maps for iOS by the end of the year.

Google Maps gets 250k mile Street View update is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Google’s eponymous mapping system has received plenty of good press recently, but the company knows it can’t take some time out to enjoy its position. As such, Mountain View’s pushing out what it calls the biggest update to Street View it has ever undertaken, refreshing 250,000 miles of road imagery and doubling the amount of special collections. Some of the new attractions you can visit from the comfort of your home include Catherine Palace in Russia, Stanley Park in Vancouver and Singapore’s Fort Canning Park. We’re thinking we might have to use the system the next time we fancy a cultural visit — after all, we’d save a pile on airfare.

Filed under: GPS, Google

Google’s ‘biggest ever’ Street View update doubles special collections, refreshes 250,000 miles of roads originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Oct 2012 04:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Maps isn’t really gone from iPhones in iOS 6. You can still get it through the vastly inferior mobile version of its browser-based web app. Tim Cook even suggested you try it if you’re dissatisfied with Apple Maps. In a recent video about Google Maps, Señor Walt Mossberg notes that the company will be adding Street View to this mobile version of the app starting tomorrow. This more or less confirms earlier reports that the feature was coming soon. Huzzah! [WSJ via 9To5Mac] More »

Google Maps for iOS may not be due to hit the iPhone 5 and other iOS 6 devices until the end of the year, but Apple fans will reportedly be able to use Street View on their devices far sooner. While Google’s work on an iOS 6-compatible native version of the mapping app isn’t expected to be ready for release until later in 2012, a browser based Street View for Apple’s gadgets is roughly two weeks away, the NYT reports.

That will fill one obvious omission in functionality from Apple’s own native Maps app, which replaced Google Maps in iOS 6. Although Apple’s software introduces native turn-by-turn directions, missing until now unless iOS users bought third-party navigation apps, it does not include the street-level photography that Google has painstakingly collected over the past years.

The browser-based version of Google Maps for iOS also lacks Street View support currently, but that’s all set to change. Those visiting the site – which can be saved as a shortcut to the iPhone and iPad homescreen – will be able to flip into Street View mode and get a pedestrian-eye preview of where they’re going.

Replicating Street View itself would be an arduous challenge for Apple. Although it has been able to source maps, points-of-interest, and other data from third-party providers – amounting to “many petabytes” of information, Apple claims – there’s no alternative source for what makes Street View special. One possibility is enabling iOS device owners themselves to provide street-level data, perhaps using the same panoramic photo technology as Apple introduced with the iPhone 5′s camera, though it would be a time-consuming and labor-intensive task.

According to Apple, the decision to eject Google Maps from iOS – and do so earlier than its contract for the software actually required – was down to Google’s ongoing refusal to share turn-by-turn. Instead, the functionality was kept for Android devices.

Street View for iPhone 5 and iOS 6 users is two weeks away is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

According to many of our readers, if Apple’s iOS 6 Maps software isn’t suitably filling in for the old Google-powered Maps then the quickest workaround is simply using Google Maps as a web app. While we’ll likely be waiting some time to find out if a standalone replacement from Google really is in the cards, The New York Times‘ David Pogue mentions — while bemoaning some navigation related mishaps in the new app — Street View imagery will be accessible that way “in two weeks.” Hopefully users will find that makes the wait easier, but at least they’re not making you carry around one of those backpacks to make it all work.

Filed under: Software, Mobile

Google Maps Street View will be available via Mobile Safari in two weeks originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 21:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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