Google Maps releases a new view of the world reminiscent of SimCity | TechBuzz

This is a feature that was previewed in May, during the 2022 edition of the Google I/O conference. It is now on track for deployment to Internet users. In a blog post published on July 27, 2022, Maps Product Manager Amanda Leicht Moore mentioned the arrival of the “immersive view” in the app.

This representation of the world in the application consists of combining, thanks to algorithms, different types of views to generate panoramas with volume and depth. Everything is put together and converted to give the impression of 3D aerial navigation, where you can admire a place – like the Empire State Building or Big Ben – from different angles.

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Google Maps in sauce SimCity

Here, Google says it uses photos not only from its Street View service, which offers virtual navigation of streets around the world, as well as aerial shots and satellite images. The rendering is striking and, for the players, it will undoubtedly evoke the management game SimCity.

In SimCity, we observe the world from an aerial point of view. It’s actually an isometric perspective view, as if you were positioned a little diagonally from the objects you’re observing — where you find this representation in many games, whether it’s Hades, Lost Ark or Age of Empires IVto name a few examples.

Google warns that the rollout of these photorealistic aerial views is just getting started and not all places in the world are covered yet. In addition, it may take a few days, weeks or months before the public has full access to it – this kind of launch is generally spread over a more or less long period.

« This is the first step in the launch of the immersive view”, points out Amanda Leicht Moore. This initial phase includes around a hundred sites “the most popular in the world from New York to Tokyo, via London, San Francisco and Barcelona. The option is advertised in the photos section of the app, both on Android and iOS.

The question then remains: what for? Google thinks this will come in handy for tourists when planning a trip: the update gives you an idea of ​​what particular points of interest look like with a slightly more original view — although in facts, we do not necessarily need Maps for this: aerial videos of places of this type already exist.