'We have been mobile-first in Google Maps for quite a while,' added McClendon. 'We think mapping and geographical information is probably most useful when you're mobile,' said Parsons. It's notable that the latter are getting the new 3D feature first: a sign of Google's priorities when it comes to rolling out new mapping functionality across Google Maps and Google Earth.

Increasingly, mapping will be more and more 3D both online, and on mobile devices.' For example, I'm currently sitting on the sixth floor of an office in Soho, and that's three-dimensional information. 'It gives you the ability to attach information to objects in three dimensions. 'Behind the scenes, this is very valuable for future applications like augmented reality,' said Parsons. Why, though? 3D cities might look pretty, but what are the actual benefits to this kind of technology besides swooping virtually over San Francisco or London to show off a smartphone or tablet? The same technology is coming to Europe, and you'll be able to see some UK cities in 3D.' Parsons added that while most 3D in Google Earth has been in North America so far, 'we are going to be rolling this out in EMEA over the next few months. 'We can automatically create 3D models not just of buildings, but trees, structures like large monuments and so on,' he said.

Google says that by the end of 2012, it will have 3D coverage for 'metropolitan areas with a combined population of 300 million people'.ģD models of buildings have been in Google Earth since its early days, said Parsons, but the company has found a way to automate the modelling process using aerial photography. 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. 'We're very proud of how far we've come in comprehensiveness, accuracy and usability.' 3D cityscapesģD is the most attention-grabbing announcement today, although it's worth re-stressing that it's part of the Google Earth mobile apps, not Google Maps. 'There's a lot going on in mapping right now, and we wanted to be able to tell our story,' added Brian McClendon, vice president of engineering for Google Maps, in a follow-up conference call with a group of European journalists. 'It's covering a number of things that we've been doing, and perhaps haven't talked about as much as we should have done,' said Ed Parsons, geospatial technologist at Google, in an interview with The Guardian. Not that Google is framing the news in terms of any rivalry with Apple. Some big announcements, just days before WWDC.

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 improve the accuracy of its maps – although this doesn't include the UK yet. The 3D cityscapes will roll out in Google Earth mobile apps, while the Android version of Google Maps will get the ability to download maps for offline usage in more than 100 countries in the coming weeks. Google has four separate pieces of mapping news.

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