Something To Think About: Say Goodbye To Google Street View On iOS

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Google knows how much we love Street View.
Goodbye, Google Street View. I'll miss you.

The new Maps app that Apple showed off at WWDC yesterday has made it pretty clear that the company will be ditching Google Maps in iOS 6. That means beautiful new 3D maps, voice guided turn-by-turn navigation, and more. But before you get too excited, just remember this: As soon as Google leaved, so does Street View.

Saying goodbye to Street View may or may not be a big deal for you. But for me, I’ll be sorry to see it go. I actually use the Street View feature more than anything else in the built-in Maps app, and I think it’s one of the apps most impressive attributes. Sure, it’ll soon be overshadowed by Apple’s new flyover feature, but it’s certainly still worthwhile.

Unfortunately, Street View isn’t a feature that you can access via a web browser on iOS, either. Google’s mobile maps web app doesn’t support it, and if you fool it into thinking you’re using a desktop browser, it requires Flash Player.

We’re hoping that Apple’s move encourages Google to develop a new maps app of its own for iOS. If it wants iOS users to continue using its mapping services, that’s the only way to do it. So there is some hope.

And if all else fails, here’s to hoping we’ll see a jailbreak tweak that adds Street View support to the new Maps app.

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