Google Map

Google’s digital mapping service will get several new features in hopes of becoming more convenient, comprehensive and compelling as it braces for a potential loss in traffic from Apple’s hot selling smartphones and tablet PC. Recent Google’s preview of the mapping service coming into concerns about the loss as built-in mapping service on Apple’s iPhone and iPad. Apple intends to end its five-year partnership with Google’s mobile mapping service next week when it unveil its own Apple mapping service, according to recent reports that Apple developed its own mapping service after subsequently purchase of three mapping service companies Placebase, Poly9, and C3 Technologies between 2009 to 2011. Apple own mapping service expected to be come along with new mobile operating software IOS 6 released on his autumn.

If Apple ditches Google Maps from the navigation service on the iPhone and iPad, it would be the latest fissure between two former allies. Their relationship has been degenerating into a bitter rivalry since Google’s release of Android operating system to compete the iPhone in the smartphones market. Since then, both companies have increasingly been encroaching into each other’s market share.

Processing the Google map requests from users of Apple’s devices has provided Google with valuable insights into mobile phones users’ locations and preferences. This information collected has helped Google better leverage it to sell more ads to local businesses.

None of the new features released by Google will be available for at least several more weeks. The upcoming options include Google maps that can be downloaded into smartphones for offline access and more 3D views- the latter coming from its own fleet of planes to better cater high resolution and detailed images especially when users enlarge the images. Besides providing 26 million miles of driving directions, Google’s maps now include imagery of most of the world’s neighborhoods. Mr. McClendon said that 75 per cent of the global population can now call up a high-resolution image of their home on Google maps, up from 37 per cent six years ago.

Google plans to embellish its maps with even more photos from remote areas, such as hiking trails in the Grand Canyon, with new equipment showcased recently. The photos will be taken from specially designed equipment attached to a hiker’s backpack. This gear will supplement photo-snapping bicycles that Google already has been dispatching to areas that cannot be easily accessed by cars.

The company also disclosed that its planes will photograph major cities to conjure more realistic 3D views of metropolitan landscapes in the Google Earth version of its maps. The aerial images taken by the planes are automatically converted into 3D views replicas using technology that Google has been developed.

San Franciscowill be one of the first cities to feature the more vivid 3D views imagery. Google did not identify other cities on its 3D views list, but said the improvements will span communities with a combined population of about 300 million.

The option to download mobile maps for specific cities so they can be view it offline later will only be available on smartphones and tablet PC running on Google’s Android software in initial stage. Google maps have typically offered more tools on Android devices, including spoken turn-by-turn directions.