Look Around is expanding to Apple Maps and will provide a birds-eye view of places which will be similar to Street View.

Apple Maps lands on the web

For the last nine months, those not using iPhones or Mac computers could only use Apple Maps through a web site. It was not as dynamic at the time, the online version was still in the beta stage. However, a recent improvement has made which was taken following the Google Maps example.

Look around: This is Apple’s response to Google Street View

There is a new feature that has been incorporated into Apple Maps on the web today called Look Around. To anyone who does not have an idea of Apple offerings, this is actually their version of Google Street View. It let you see such places from a pedestrian point of view. Nevertheless it is not present in every country and does not have the ease of familiarity as Street View.

How Google Maps is different

While with Google Maps you can click on certain places or simply drag the “yellow man” figure on the map to go directly to Street View, the Apple’s system works a little different. If you are in a city that is supported by Look Around, you should search for binoculars at the lower left. It appears when clicked allows user to put street view on top of the map itself without opening a new window. Like Google Street View Look Around lets rotate the camera 360 degrees and click on faraway locations to go there. You can also try to move the large map closer if you wanted to have a bit of control over where you’re headed.

There is still some geographical limitation

The only true drawback of Look Around is an incomparable range, which is significantly fewer than Street View. Currently, it covers only some of the selected cities from the USA, Canada, and European Union countries, the United Kingdom, and Australia only. The entire list is available at Apple website.

Regarding whether Apple has plans for Look Around’s future growth or not, there is nothing less certain. Nevertheless, the company stated that it will refine the current Apple Maps Web beta and augment it, new features, platforms as well as languages. Perhaps, this means that Apple Maps will soon be available in Android.