Google maps unveil photorealistic 3D views of landmarks worldwide

LONDON (DPA) : Google Maps is rolling out photorealistic 3D views of landmarks in cities around the world, expanding its tourist-friendly feature with 500 major international sights like Sydney’s Harbour Bridge, Prague Castle, and Berlin’s TV tower.

Until now, these 3D views, with their Sim City-like view from above, could only be seen in a few cities like Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, London and Tokyo.

Google says it is extending the immersive view feature to other European cities such as Amsterdam, Dublin, Florence and Venice before the end of June. There are currently 500 sights and attractions available worldwide as 3D views in Google Maps.

The app will show you if the 3D feature is available for a sight when you tap on a location, and the very first photo in the open picture gallery will be marked with “Immersive View.” Once you open it, you can hover in mid-air around the sight, rotate the camera view and freely zoom in and out, Google says in a June update.

While a little jittery and slow to respond in our test, the feature offers an impressive panorama of a city beyond the sight you’ve chosen to explore.

Perhaps the most impressive feature is the time slider, which allows you to look ahead at the weather on different days and see what the sight looks like at different times of the day and how crowded the place might be at that time.