Hmm, pretty underwhelming.

Great 3D: cool to be sure, but of limited use. Also, I think this is trying to head off Apple's equivalent announcement next week, which I expect to be even more eye-popping, but of the same limited-use.

Street View Stuff: yawn. A marked improvement of the architecture and/or interface would be more appreciated than just mapping more areas. Ski slopes? Whatever. I want automatic incorporation stitching of user images! Automatic occlusion removal where possible! Smoother navigation and transitions!

Offline download: good feature, but what's with the Android exclusive? Shouldn't this be an API feature? Can't you already do this with OpenMaps? Can't you probably do this already yourself?

Are you using data gathered from opt-in Android phones yet to try and better map traffic conditions?

I agree it certainly has the feel of trying to blunt Apple's announcement. The thing that makes it feel that way for me is the lack of use cases. The 'real' news would be offline because if you plot connection capable isotherms for where you can and cannot be connected, big chunks of the world are in 'not' connected. That means all your 'cloud/net' maps are worthless, which is why I still get Microsoft Streets & Trips and have a Garmin dedicated navigator rather than relying on my phone.

They only do OpenGL rendering for map data on-device with Android, thus it's a whole lot easier to do offline map data on that platform.

Yes, they have been using Android phones for traffic conditions since the traffic/routing/navigation feature was added to Android.

Does Maps for iOS still use raster map tiles (like Maps for Android used to)? If so, the amount of space required to cache large map areas at all zoom levels becomes prohibitively large.

Oh, Ok, I get it, by offline they mean raw data and a client-side rendering library. That is a nice improvement, but I would have to assume, this does not include satellite imagery then. Come to think of it, I'd be amazed if Apple's map announcements next week don't include similar capability.

This seems to be live already for selected locations in Europe.

For example http://goo.gl/maps/2iVt - zoom out for the old interface, zoom in for unbelieved details.

Do you mean the 45 degree map view? I'd never heard of that myself, but apparently it's quite old: http://google-latlong.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/changing-your-p...

If you mean something else, can you link to a screenshot?

I hope that's not the only thing they are announcing. Bing Maps has had this as "Bird's Eye" view for a while.

Compare http://binged.it/KOXqqh with http://goo.gl/maps/fC4r , they're identical but Google still has 2 zoom levels to go into details, while Bing is maxed out.

A formal announcement shouldn't be necessary for 2 zoom levels difference.

Today's announcement wasn't about that at all. It was about their use of new imagery gathered from planes (paid for and coordinated by Google) to generate detailed, textured, 3D models of cities.

See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMBJ2Hu0NLw#t=4296s

I know, that's what I was saying. They weren't going to have a whole announcement for something that is so trivial. (This was also posted before the announcement).

Well, I'm not sure what the threshold is for formal announcements - I too would like it if they mention the API opening up. But street view also looks significantly overhauled there.

The point is, they're not going to "announce" bird's-eye, they already have it. The announcement will be something else.

The 45° imagery for Zurich was announced one week ago.

http://google-latlong.blogspot.ch/2012/05/new-45-imagery-ava...

They have had the 45 degree view for a long time. You can spin it around too to view from different reference points (drag the N on the compass to see the other three available views or if you have WebGL just click the N).

Hopefully they'll announce (as a side note) that the Android Maps API is going to be updated to match the Maps app. The app is of unparalleled quality, but developers have been unable to use it for far, far too long.

Live stream - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMBJ2Hu0NLw

I see 30 minutes of dead air on that video. The fun starts here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMBJ2Hu0NLw&feature=playe...

This offline maps stuff is just them launching a feature that's been in Labs for the last 6 months or so.

Nokia already has something similar up (http://maps3d.svc.nokia.com/webgl/index.html).

Looking at NYC or the Bay Area is pretty impressive.

This is in anticipation of Apple dropping Google for their own mapping system next week. So far Apple's "one more thing" for maps is rumored to be the result of their acquisition of C3 Technologies for their 3D maps. Google's simply showing that they can do that, too.

The offline maps component isn't very exciting: they've previously had that as a labs feature on Android phones.

Offline maps is a huge feature. And even with the new additions it seems to be lacking quite bad - to the point of being almost useless.

If I go abroad I wan't to easily download more than just a city. If you ever would try to go on the road abroad the feature as it is now is severely lacking. You more or less have to buy a 3rd party navigator (for about 60 euro) only to get the offline maps feature, which is a bit frustrating.

The announcement of offline maps itself isn't very big: they've had offline maps on Android for at least a year as a labs feature.

Also, it's just for browsing. Searching and routing both require a network connection.

Disagree about offline maps. They are very handy in remote locations. Also I recently showed some friends going to Europe the app CityMaps2Go and they were able to use their iPhones for navigation without having service by preloading maps.

I meant that the announcement wasn't very exciting. They've had offline maps for at least a year on Android.

I'm guessing a 3rd dimension as the next dimension.

Probably a lot more useful than time...

Indeed. The rumor I've heard is that Google thought about putting Time into their Maps development cycle but decided it would probably be a waste.

My hypercube thinks differently...

The 3D data they have generated are amazing. This will make the "satellite"-view MUCH more useful.

I keep hoping for some smoother navigation on street view, first-person-shooter like.

I realize the issues interpolating the pictures, but navigating down a street is quite clunky today.

The only weirdness I can see is the streets under the bridge look funny. I guess that would be a problem when using aerial photography to generate and texture the 3d models.

The description of the automatic collection of surface feature data from flying airplanes in tightly-controlled patterns makes me wonder if their activity has been part of what has been driving the pseudo-scientific alarm over "chemtrails" recently.