Apple Rumored to Unveil Revamped 3D Maps in iOS 6

Apple is expected to introduce a revamped Maps application in the next major update iOS 6, ditching Google Maps service as a backend to provide its proprietary solution that will feature 3D mapping technology.

AllThingsD reported that the new feature is expected to be unveiled at Apple’s WWDC which will be held June 11 through 15 in San Francisco

“Sources describe the new Maps app as a forthcoming tent-pole feature of iOS that will, in the words of one, ‘blow your head off,'” Paczkowski wrote. “I’m not quite sure what that means, and the source in question declined to elaborate, but it’s likely a reference to the photorealistic 3-D mapping tech Apple acquired when it purchased C3 Technologies.”

Apple’s proprietary mapping solution has been a long time in the making after the company acquired Placebase, C3 Technologies, and Poly9.

The most important thing in the new Maps application is a powerful new 3D mode provided by C3 Technologies:

C3 Technologies is the leading provider of 3D mapping solutions, offering photo-realistic models of the world for search, navigation and geographic information systems. Since 2007 when it was spun out of the aerospace and defense company Saab AB, venture-backed C3 has redefined mapping by applying previously classified image processing technology to the development of 3D maps as a platform for new social and commercial applications. The Sweden-based company’s automated software and advanced algorithms enable C3 to rapidly assemble extremely precise 3D models, and seamlessly integrate them with traditional 2D maps, satellite images, street level photography and user generated images, that together are forever changing how people use maps and explore the world.