Google Maps’ 3D views turn streets into cascades, tarmac into towers of goo

May 23, 2013 14:16 GMT  ·  By

Seeing how Google Maps’ 3D function fares, Google’s Eric Schmidt is probably biting his tongue after he piqued last month, “It would be easy for [Apple] to take the app in the store and put it as their basic one.”

As it turns out, Google’s new 3D Maps service isn’t as superior to Apple Maps as they’d like it to be.

Almost a year after Apple debuted the ill-fated Flyover Maps service on iOS, the presumably-experienced Google this month released a similar 3D function, which doesn’t work on smartphones, and has now proved to be just as glitchy as Apple’s was in the beginning.

Screenshots uploaded to the web by Google Maps users show cascading streets in Manhattan, along with visual glitches that turn the tarmac into pillars of goo, as shown by AppleInsider.

In the meantime, Apple is rapidly improving its Maps service and likely has an all-new version to show us at WWDC.

Not that I’m glad Google messed up, but it’s certainly interesting to see justice being served through software bugs.