Google Ups The Ante In Maps Battle With Apple

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12:28pm UK, Thursday June 07, 2012

The internet search giant has unveiled new technology which will enable web browsers to see three-dimension imagery of entire cities and smartphone users to use Google Maps offline in places where there is no Wi-Fi connection.

Maps from remote areas will also be embellished with more photos.

The announcement comes as Google Maps is expected to lose its prized perch as the built-in navigation service on iPhones and iPads when Apple releases its own mapping facility.

Apple intends to end its five-year partnership with Google's mobile maps as soon as next week, according to reports in The Wall Street Journal and the technology blog 9to5.

In their typically clandestine style, Apple has so far declined to comment.

Google Earth will feature 3D maps of major cities

Google, which unveiled its latest plans at a presentation in San Francisco, intends to enhance its maps of natural parks and walking trails - such as the Grand Canyon - with photos taken from specially-designed equipment attached to a hiker's backpack.

The 'Trekker' gear will supplement photo-snapping bicycles that Google has already been dispatching to areas that cannot be easily accessed by cars.

Meanwhile, Google's own fleet of planes will photograph swaths of major cities to conjure more realistic three-dimensional views of metropolitan landscapes in the Google Earth version of its maps.

The photos taken by the planes are automatically converted into 3D replicas using technology that Google developed for the project.

Peter Birch, a Google Earth product manager, said: "We are trying to create magic here.

"We are trying to create the illusion that you are flying over the city, almost as if you are in your own personal helicopter."

The option to download mobile maps for specific cities so they can be reviewed offline later initially will only be available on smartphones and tablet computers running on Google's Android software.

Apple's iPad currently uses Google Maps

Apple's decision to oust Google Maps from the prominent spot on the iPhone and iPad would be the latest fissure between two former allies.

Their relationship has been degenerating into a bitter rivalry since Google released its Android software in 2008 to compete with the iPhone.

Since then, both companies have increasingly been encroaching on each other's turf.

Google used its latest presentation to emphasise all the technological wizardry that it has poured into its maps during the past seven years.

Without directly saying so, the search giant seemed to be trying to convey how difficult it will be for Apple or any other newcomer to build maps that include as many useful tools.

Besides providing 26 million miles of driving directions, Google's maps now include imagery of most of the world's neighbourhoods.

Brian McClendon, a Google vice-president who oversees the mapping service, boasted that 75% of the world's population can now call up a high-resolution image of their home on Google's maps, up from 37% six years ago.

Google also has traversed five million miles to take ground-level photos of communities for its Street View feature.

But the company has raised privacy concerns by posting photographs that include people in unflattering situations and, at one point, including equipment that vacuumed up personal emails sent over wireless networks that were not protected with a password.

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