Google unveils three dimensional cities in Google Earth and offline Google Maps for Android

Google unveils three dimensional cities in Google Earth and offline Google Maps for Android Google has announced several new features for its mapping services, including 3D cityscapes in Google Earth, and an offline mode for its Google Maps Android application. "We're perhaps getting to the point where every map is unique for every individual for their particular task," said Parsons. Parsons says it's one of the most-demanded features from Google Maps users. The cityscapes will be introduced initially into the Google Earth apps for Android and iOS, with the desktop version getting them at a later point. Meanwhile, an initiative called Google Street View Trekker will send rucksack-toting Googlers off to photograph places that aren't accessible to Street View cars, trikes and snowmobiles, while Google is expanding its Map Maker tool to 12 new countries for people to help enhance the accuracy of its maps - although this doesn't include the UK yet. Some big announcements, just days before WWDC. "It's covering a number of things that we've been doing, and maybe haven't talked about as much as we should have done," said Ed Parsons, geospatial technologist at Google, in an interview with The Guardian. From cars to tricycles to rucksacks. Google's announcements today play into a wider picture of how digital maps are evolving: the interconnection between the actual mapping data - 3D images included - and all the other data and content floating about in the cloud with location tags. How to make sense of that, and produce useful maps that also serve up whatever information and/or content is relevant to that particular person at that particular time? "For cartography, it's never been what you include on the map, but what you take off that's important," said Parsons. "Up Snowdon, down the Grand Canyon, out into the wilds of England, Scotland and Wales… We can take people to places they wouldn't visit," said Parsons. Increasingly, mapping will be more and more three dimensional both online, and on mobile devices. It's notable that the latter are getting the new 3 D feature first: a sign of Google's priorities when it comes to rolling out new mapping functionality across Google Maps and Google Earth. "We think mapping and geographical information is probably most useful when you're mobile," said Parsons. Why, though? three dimensional cities might look pretty, but what are the actual advantages to this kind of technology besides swooping virtually over San Francisco or London to show off a smartphone or tablet? "Behind the scenes,this is very valuable for future applications like augmented reality," said Parsons. "It gives you the ability to attach information to objects in three dimensions. Its launch could also encourage more Android users to download the standalone Google Maps app from the Google Play store, rather than wait for their operator / handset maker to push out an update to the Android OS (and thus its embedded maps app). All of this begs the question: what about iOS? All concerned at Google are playing a straight bat, as you'd imagine. "The maps application on iOS has always been developed by Apple, who made use of our mapping tiles in the background," said Parsons. "The largest consumers of map data in the future will be mobile. Those priorities are also reflected in the offline Google Maps for Android announcement, which means people will be able to download the map for a specific city or area before travelling there, and save on data usage/costs when they arrive. Amid the interest in the 3D Google Earth cities and offline Android maps, the Street View Trekker news risks getting sidelined, but it's noteworthy too. McClendon was equally diplomatic on iOS: "It's a fantastic platform and we see it as one of the many devices that we'd like to provide Google Maps on. Of course, Google could launch a standalone Google Maps app for iOS, just as it has on Android. Now it can be squeezed into a rucksack, enabling Googlers to explore areas on foot (think canyons, mountains, national parks…) and capture them for Street View too. Google unveils three dimensional cities in Google Earth and offline Google Maps for Android Trade News selected by Local Linkup on 07/06/2012