Google Updates iOS Earth App with 3D, Maps With New HD Shots

It's been a week of furious updating for Google's mapping and location teams.

First off, Google updated its Google Earth app for iOS on Thursday to include 14 regions' worth of three-dimensional imagery – the same features Android users have enjoyed since late June – and beat Apple on its own quest to integrate 3D mapping to iOS natively.

"With today's release of Google Earth for iOS you can literally fly through breathtaking 3D city landscapes and images and follow virtual tours of places you've never been -- all with a simple swipe of your fingertip," wrote Google's Peter Birch, Google Earth product manager, in a blog post. "It's a new, and I think magical way to explore the world in which we live."

But that's not all.

On Friday, Google announced that it had also updated its image catalog for both Google Earth and Google Maps with new high-resolution aerial, satellite, and 45-degree-angled shots. The newer, better images cover 25 cities and 72 countries and regions, including: Chicago, Columbus, Pittsburgh, London, and Munich, as well as the areas of Green Bay, Phoenix, Bern, Geneva, and a host of countries.

Of particular note in that list is London, where Google's gone ahead and updated its maps to reflect the new Olympic Park and Village. Since Google's new shots were taken in May, they aren't a picture-perfect glimpse at the state of the area now that the 2012 Olympic Games have started up (in Google's shots, the Olympic Stadium is still under a bit of last-minute construction). Nevertheless, Google's new images are a pretty good reflection of how the area's changed as a result of the big competitions.

As Google notes in its blog post, users interested in receiving information when new high-resolution shots have been added to Google's catalog to cover particular areas can sign up for Google's reminder service, "Follow Your World." One simply has to add points of interest to a list in order to receive a little message from Google whenever there's new imagery to view for any area you want.