Somewhat out of the blue, though not totally unexpected after we saw EarthScape, Google Earth has been released for the iPhone!
It’s still being rolled out (Australia and Japan can get it now), and it’s not available for my area yet. I’ll post more details once I get it.
A little more info can be found on the Google Earth Blog, or you can check out the screenshots below.
A couple of good pieces of news for StreetView fans. Somewhat unsurprisingly, StreetView is apparently making it’s way onto the next firmware release (v2.2) for the iPhone. Considering it’s already on Google Maps Mobile and on Android, this wasn’t a shocker. Still, it’s nice to know it’s coming soon.
Also, CNET is reporting that Google StreetView cars have been spotted in Singapore, and Google has confirmed that StreetView: Singapore will be here “in the coming months”.
Continuing to expand StreetView, both in terms of coverage areas and supported devices, will only serve to make it that much more useful for all of us.
A couple of fun toys for today. I’ve created a mobile version of Google Earth Hacks, allowing you to view about 80% of the files (18,000 or so) on the go. It works best on the iPhone, taking advantage of the built-in Google Maps, but should work on any recent phone. Get details here, or simply visit m.gearthhacks.com on your phone.
Also, my wife and I are pretty big fans of The Amazing Race, so I’ve been working on a rather comprehensive mash-up for the show. You can read about it here, view the full map here, or just play with the embedded version below.
If you’re a fan of the show, it’s a neat way to see all of the amazing places that the contestants get to travel to.
StreetView has come to Google Maps Mobile! This should prove to be a very useful addition, since many people use GMM when trying to find a location. Having a street-level view of their destination will be great!
In addition to StreetView, the mobile versions now have walking directions and business reviews as well.
The software is available for: Blackberry and “many Java-enabled phones”. The software has not yet been updated for Symbian devices (like the Nokia N95), Windows Mobile devices or the Apple iPhone.
To download it for your phone, simply visit google.com/gmm.
Here is a short video showing off the new features:
A few months back, Google Earth Blog revealed a slick new iPhone application coming called Earthscape. The application is a Google Earth-like program that runs on your iPhone. It costs $9.99 in the iTunes app store (get it here).
One disappointment is that it’s not yet using the accelerometer to control movement — it’s all done with finger swipes. That being said, the interace is fairly intuitive and it works well. The data for the US is quite sharp, although all of the non-US data it limited to 15 meter resolution, which is quite blurry.
One odd thing I found was the transition between 2D and 3D. While browsing around, it works very much like Google Maps, with a top-down perspective. If you want to angle your view, you have to click an icon, and you’re suddenly swooped sideways. This also changes the interface, so you need to use different kinds of finger swipes to navigate in 3D (two fingers to pan instead of just one, one finger will tilt and rotate, etc). I found that I had a pretty tough time moving around in 3D, but that will likely improve as I get used to it.
The application comes with three layers built in: Borders, City Names and Wikipedia Articles. All three do exactly what they say, and they’re done well. I like the way the city names do a quick zoom-up when it’s time for them to display. The two big items missing are roads and a search box. Without roads, I had a tough time finding various landmarks (my house, etc). I still found them, but the yellow labeled roads make life much easier. A search box would be very useful, too. I’d expect we’ll see both of those in a future version.
All in all, it’s a very impressive little app. If you want a great toy to show off your iPhone, this is it. I think the $9.99 price tag is a bit steep for what it does, but the value is sure to increase as they add more features.
Here is a brief video that Earthscape produced to show off the application:
Here are a few photos I took while browsing around:
Google Earth Blog has a story about a digital earth product called Earthscape. Earthscape is a desktop program that aims to be similar to Google Earth (and others). It may end up being a decent product, but that’s not the point of this post.
At Where 2.0 last week, GEB author Frank Taylor was shown an iPhone application that uses their product. Not only does it handle the top down view (like Google Maps Mobile), but you can pan down into a 3D view! Taking it a step further, the application responds to tilting, so you can move the phone around in your hand to change the view.
The application has some work to be done before it can be released, but it shows a ton of potential. Below is the video that Frank took and you can read more about it in this blog post:
Rumor has it that the iPhone firmware will be updated to version 1.1.3 next week. Part of that update will include a few new features for the Google Maps app on the phone.
I’ve had these features on my Nokia N95 for a while now, so it’s nice to see that they’re finally making their way to the iPhone.
Gizmondo has a nice write-up about a GPS-like add-on for the iPhone from Navizon. Using cell tower data, along with any local wifi that it can find, the software calculates your location to within a few hundred feet. While it’s not as accurate as real GPS, it provides a nice starting point for driving directions and will push your location to the Google Maps app so it will start at your current location.
The program is free for 15 days, then $24.99. More details on the Navizon blog.
