Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is adding Street View to the maps feature the company makes for mobile browsers, enhancing the navigation tool available over the Internet to iPhone 5 users who no longer have the tool pre-installed on their phones.
Users of Apple Inc.’s iPhone users can get quick access to Street View, which offers panoramic images of locations, by saving a Web bookmark to the home screen of the phone.
“To make Google Maps even more comprehensive, accurate and useful, today we’re making Street View available on mobile browsers,” Amanda Leicht, product manager for Google Maps, wrote in a blog post Thursday.
“With access to Street View on your phone, you can use panoramic, street-level imagery to explore and navigate the places around you, even on the go.”
Google’s decision follows an uproar among iPhone 5 users over Apple’s Map app.
“Starting today, use Street View on your mobile browser to check out a new shop across town or get a feel for the ambiance at a restaurant before you arrive,” Leicht said.
“To use Street View on your mobile browser simply go to maps.google.com and search for a location. Then click the “pegman” icon at the bottom right of your screen to access Street View. And to view still more helpful imagery, such as a photos shared by users or interior panoramas, visit the business’ Google+ Local page.”
There’s more available, Leicht added.
“Also, transit, driving, biking and walking directions continue to be available on your mobile browser to help you help guide you to your destination.
“For quick access to Google Maps on iOS devices, you can save a bookmark to your home screen. Simply click “Save to Home Screen” on the bottom of the page when you’re in Google Maps, or follow the instructions.”
Apple’s decision to build its own navigation application reflects a widening rift with Google, which had provided its Google Maps program since the iPhone debuted in 2007. While Apple’s new software adds features such as turn-by-turn navigation, it is widely faulted for unreliable landmark searches, routes that get users lost and a lack of public transit directions.
Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook apologized last week for the iPhone mapping software, vowing to improve the feature. In the meantime, he encouraged customers to download mapping applications such as Microsoft Corp.’s Bing, Waze and MapQuest from the company’s App Store. He said users also could use the iPhone’s Internet browser to use Google’s mapping application.
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said on Sept. 25 that Apple should have stuck with Google Maps. “It would have been better if they had kept ours,” Schmidt said at a press event in Tokyo. “What were we going to do, force them not to change their mind? It’s their call.”
(Bloomberg news contributed to this report.)
