I noticed something today that I’ve never noticed before. I’m not sure if it’s that my home town just got access to it, or if it’s something that Google Inc recently let us have access to, but either way, it’s damn handy.
We’ve all seen street view before, and we’ve probably used it whenever possible. Today, I used it in a way that it’s meant to be used, and I have to say, it makes me love the Maps app on my iPhone just a little bit more.
I took a quick trip to pick up some Macgasm stickers from a print shop that I’ve never actually been to before, in a part of town that I might visit once ever year or so, and I was a little worried that I’d get lost. Google Maps lets me know when I’m in the right area, but if doesn’t exactly direct you to a parking lot for the store. A picture would go a long way in letting me know just what this place looked like. Much to my delight, the address had a weird avatar icon on the push pin for the location. Having never seen it before, I clicked, and next thing I knew I was looking at the store front. Blew my mind. I started showing it to everyone in the room, and I even busted out a “can your GPS do that?”
Then it got even better. I accidentally swiped the screen while showing it off, and next thing I knew I was moving down the street. You can get a 360 degree view of that point on the map, that you can follow on down the street. Apparently, at some point in the relative past, Google decided to give iPhone users access to Street View, and I had no idea that it was there. This changes everything.
This is why I love technology. Technology companies are constantly evolving and making things better, and this is a huge step in the right direction for map applications. It certainly makes that AT&T GPS application look like a Rand McNally map. It going to be hard going back to another application now that I can see a real shot of where I’m going. If I could get that in a live view, I’d be in heaven.
November 11th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Really? This is a little late, dude. This was available when 3.0 first came out, maybe earlier.
Try reading the release notes or watching a video from Apple.com next time you upgrade.
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November 11th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
It wouldn’t be available to me if we didn’t have access to google street view in Ottawa. So, I’m pretty sure that makes it news to me. Just because it’s been out since 2.2, it doesn’t mean that every iPhone user knows about the feature. I’ve already received a number of DMs on twitter from people who didn’t know the feature existed, so it seems like the article has some added utility. Thanks for the kind words.
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November 11th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
We provide a service here. There are features throughout OS X and the iPhone that have been around for years, and most people still don’t know about them. Josh is merely offering information. If you don’t find it helpful, I’m sorry. You are more than welcome to seek out other places on the Internet.
That said, I do not appreciate your tone. The next time you feel compelled to comment, please remember that there are other human beings on the other end.
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November 11th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Holy crap…I never noticed this either. This is pretty awesome.
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November 11th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
It’s a good thing I decided to write about it, despite it being released in 2008. *ahem*Chandler*ahem*
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November 24th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
By the way, I just used this post as a reference. VERY USEFUL!
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November 11th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Macgasm.net: Google Street View on the iPhone: I noticed something today that I’ve never noticed before. I’m no… http://bit.ly/3bueRC
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
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