Apple Maps icon compared to Google Maps iPhone web app icon
According to AllThingsD, Google plans to release its long-rumored Google Maps for iOS application tonight. The report does not share any details about the application’s features, or which Apple devices it will work with. However, previous rumors point to the application including the turn-by-turn navigation support that Google would not offer in Apple’s Google Maps app in iOS versions prior to iOS 6. Additionally, rumored screenshots of the application reportedly leaked out a couple of months ago, but those images have yet to be confirmed or corroborated as legitimate.
Apple’s iOS devices included a Maps app with a Google backend up until version iOS 6. Apple’s in-house Maps application includes a 3D Flyover mode, turn-by-turn directions, and Yelp integration. However, even with those helpful features, the application has been filled with controvrsy over unreliable data, broken satellite imagery, and other errors. Apple’s former iOS Senior Vice President and a Senior iOS engineer, Scott Forstall and Rich Williamson, have even both been pushed out of the company in connection to the iOS 6 Maps app.
