Even in 3D, Google's New Map is Underwhelming

They look like cut-scenes from the next installment of Grand Theft Auto. It’s not. This is Google Earth, reimagined in glorious real-time 3D, available soon on your mobile phone. It’s Google at its finest, another earnest step in the company's quest to digitize our world: soaring cityscapes, familiar monuments, even cars and trees render seamlessly, generated from a massive database of angled aerial imagery. If anything, it looks like serious fun.

But it wasn't a total victory for the search giant, who’s probably been quietly snickering as Facebook stumbles in public. Even with the street cred earned from turning our favorite cities into playable video games, the preview feels rushed. There's no narration, no context, only some forgettable music overlaying the same sweeping shots of various locales. It's too simple even for the famously minimalistic Google.

For a supposed special event, the rest of the announcements seemed to lack fire. While being able to use Maps in the subway is unquestionably an innovation — there's an offline mode now — it's obvious, incremental at best. And news of an upgraded Street View Trekker and the expansion of the Map Maker tool to countries like New Zealand, Belgium, and Liechtenstein, though thoughtful, are hardly gamechangers.

It's understandable if Google felt rushed with Apple's WWDC developer's conference looming June 11. Last week, the Wall Street Journal confirmed rumors that Apple was kicking Google Maps to the curb in favor of an in-house solution expected to be announced at next week’s gathering. The breakup ends a long-term relationship that began with the iPhone's birth back in 2007 when the two were still friendly, back when Eric Schmidt was still on Apple’s board and Steve Jobs hadn’t yet declared his dying wish to smite Android from existence.

Half a decade later, their escalating war over smartphone supremacy is less than cordial. For Google, it’s an expensive eviction. By some estimates, ads associated with maps or locations accounted for 25 percent of all spending on mobile ads. “Apple is aiming squarely at Google on multiple dimensions,” Rajeev Chand, a managing director at investment bank Rutberg & Co., told the WSJ, citing mapping and Web search. “Google and Apple are in a battle over data, devices, services, and the future of computing. This is the historic battle of today.”

With that in mind, Google's scrappy press conference was less action than reaction, as noted by Search Engine Land's Greg Sterling during his live-blog from the event in San Francisco:

We're now getting a technical explanation of how Google does 3D modeling and rendering. (Again the message here is: there's lots of effort, technical expertise and money behind Google's mapping efforts — this can't be easily duplicated. The company is trying to educate journalists who'll probably be writing about Apple Maps next week.) "We're trying to create magic here."

It’s a statement of intent: “See what it's like without us, Tim Cook.” Unfortunately for Google, iPhone users probably won't care, and they’ll care even less come iPhone 5 launch time. It's a worrying development for CEO Larry Page at a time when Android sales have flat-lined. But even with iPhone sales still growing year-over-year, Apple's own future is by no means guaranteed as it continues to develop an identity beyond Steve. One thing’s for certain. Our phones are the future.

In the meantime, we have a cool new play thing.

Follow Alec on Twitter: @sfnuop

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