Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s upcoming iOS 8 has a feature that would prompt you to open Apple Maps for the time in several months. The tech giant released the iOS 8 beta 2 to developers earlier this week. App developer Pierre Blazquez has uncovered the Flyover City tours in Apple Maps. It gives you a bird’s-eye view of some of the world’s great cities. Using the tech giant’s 3D Flyover technology, it takes you on a digital sightseeing trip.
iOS 8 to offer an aerial view of cities
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) quietly announced Flyover City tours at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this month. Blazquez uncovered the feature by using hidden debug menu in the iOS 8 beta 2 release. Mac4Ever published a video of the Paris city tour. In this video, Maps automatically zooms in on and pans around notable landmarks in Paris including the Notre Dame cathedral and the Panthéon. Apple Maps offers you a smooth and fluid view.
Blazquez said Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has created Flyover City tours for Paris, New York, San Francisco, Barcelona, Stockholm, Glasgow, Perth, Cape Town, Rome and Bordeaux. At this point, it’s unclear whether the iOS 8 could bring city tour for every Flyover-enabled region or only the historically significant areas. Flyover was first introduced with the original Apple Maps in iOS 6. The Cupertino-based company got this technology from Swedish firm C3 Technologies, which it acquired for about $250 million in 2011.
Will Apple add this feature to the consumer version of iOS 8?
The iOS 8 is unlikely to become available to consumers before this fall. We will have to wait until the launch of the new operating system to see whether Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) adds Flyover City tours to the consumer version. The company may decide to wait until the technology is more polished or it may scrap the feature entirely.
Anyway, the iPhone maker is trying hard to improve its Maps app after the initial debacle. The Flyover City tours could be a cool way to challenge Google Maps and Google Earth.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares were down 0.76% to $91.48 at 1:05 PM EDT on Thursday.