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Here’s one way Apple Maps is getting better than Google Maps

Published Jun 20th, 2014 12:40PM EDT
iOS 8 Features: Apple Maps Flyover City Tours

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A hidden iOS 8 feature that Apple barely mentioned onstage during its WWDC 2014 keynote – flyover city tours – has been discovered in iOS 8 beta 2 by a developer who managed to access it using hidden debug menus, with Mac4Ever demoing this new Apple Maps feature in a short video.

This new feature relies on the flyover function in Apple Maps to offer users a virtual tour of certain landmarks in a location. In the video, a short tour of Paris is demoed, with the program automatically flying over two tourist attractions that are shown from various angles without any user interaction, including the Pantheon and the Notre Dame cathedral.

It’s not clear whether the feature will ultimately be available in all locations where the Apple Maps flyover feature is supported, but flyover city tours will be restricted, at least initially, to only a few cities including Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Stockholm, New York, Glasgow, Cape Town, Perth, Bordeaux and San Francisco.

While Apple Maps has seen its fair share of criticism since being launched, it looks like Apple is looking to offer users more interesting features, such as this flyover city tour functionality, in order to better compete with Google Maps, the “weapon” of choice for many Internet users looking for directions.

A video showing the brief Paris flyover city tour follows below.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.