Google Maps Adds 3D Building Outlines in London, Paris and a Dozen Other Cities

Google has been working on amassing a 3D building database to cover the world for years now. Those 3D buildings have been viewable in Google Earth and more recently in Earth View for Google Maps. But that data is also useful for building outlines in Google Maps.

Now, Google has added more 3D building outline data to several cities. The new data is available in the regular, desktop Google Maps as well as the mobile version.

"Since early 2007, Google Maps has made maps more lifelike by showing 3D building outlines when zoomed into cities. If you’re planning to walk down a street, you should know whether to expect low buildings, skyscrapers, or some cool architecture!," Mark Limber, group product manager, wrote.

The building outlines were only available in a few metropolitan areas, since Google needed 3D data to create them.

With the help of its Street View cars, which scan the area with lasers to create a 3D model, and volunteers creating 3D building models, the company now has much of the world covered.

"Then the release of Google Maps 5.0 for Android ushered in the next-generation of mobile maps where you can rotate, tilt, and zoom in and out of 3D maps on a mobile device," Google explained.

"Now, 3D buildings are available in London, Paris, Barcelona, Stockholm, Singapore, Lisbon, Boulder, and 11 major cities in South Africa. These buildings will appear in both Google Maps and Google Maps for mobile," it announced.

All you have to do is point Google Maps at one of the locations listed by Google and you'll see the feature in action.

Many of the buildings in the cities are displayed with a 3D outline over the 2D graphical map, to give you a better sense of what that part of town looks like, while still using the simple and clear "Map" view.

And, if you're using a mobile device, you'll be able to move about and change the view point for a real 3D view enabling you to check out the buildings from all angles and also get a better perspective on an area, perhaps helping you to get a better sense of where you are or where you want to get to.