Remember talk of Apple’s enhanced Maps app thought to feature cutting-edge 3D view?
Apparently a few years in the making, looks like Cupertino is now ready to supplant a Google Maps backend with its own in-house mapping solution come June 11.
And now, screenshots from a “trusted source” have surfaced, depicting this exciting three-dimensional mapping view in action. The admittedly gorgeous photos look authentic and conceivably show off the power of a declassified missile targeting technology Apple got hold of with their 2011 acquisition of advanced 3D mapping startup C3 Technologies…
According to Boy Genius Report editor Jonathan Geller, Apple is said to be testing this new 3D mapping functionality in build 10A3XX of iOS 6, meaning the headline new feature should be ready by June 11, when Apple is scheduled to kick off its annual developers conference in San Francisco and hopefully launch iOS 6.
The re-worked Maps app includes “a brand new navigation bar” (it’s silver instead of blue) and the iPhone version of the program apparently sports “a floating locate me button” in the bottom left corner.
Take a look at this awesome screenshot.
9to5Mac originally broke news of Apple working on an in-house mapping solution for years now. That publication now approves of BGR’s screenies, claiming they represents “an almost entirely correct render of the new Maps app”.
And the following screenshot depicts a 3D button that Mark Gurman first mentioned in his 9to5Mac article two weeks ago.
Gurman wrote in the aforementioned piece:
The most important aspect of the new Maps application is a powerful new 3D mode. The 3D mode does not come enabled by default, but users simply need to click a 3D button that is conveniently and visibly stored in the app.
Compare this to Geller’s description from today’s post over at BGR:
To access 3D mode, which will make use of Apple’s C3 Technologies acquisition, you have to peel back the lower right corner of Maps just like the current version and enable 3D mode. Once enabled, you can switch in and out of 3D mode by tapping a 3D icon in the lower left corner.
Looks like Gurman’s been right all along with his 3D Maps stories, though 9to5Mac highlighted today a couple discrepancies:
The renderings are largely accurate, from what we heard, but the bookmarks icon does not show the border that we saw. Also, the 3D icon only exists on the iPad version (it is actually below the curl on the iPhone, because it is too easy to accidentally press).
Hungry for more?
Go here for the full gallery.
What do you guys think?
Is this the real thing or just another nice Photoshop job?