Apple Maps Expands 3D Street View Feature to Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.

As noted in the MacRumors forums, the new Look Around feature in Apple Maps recently went live in three more cities in the United States, including Boston, Philadelphia, and the Washington, D.C. area.

Introduced in iOS 13, Look Around is an interactive way to visually explore a city with 3D street-level imagery, similar to Google Street View. The feature is also available in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York City, Las Vegas, Houston, and the Hawaiian island of Oahu, with many more places to come.

apple maps look around philadelphia boston
In an area where Look Around is available, a binoculars icon will appear in the top-right corner of Apple Maps. Tapping that icon opens a street-level view in a card overlay at the top of the screen. Look Around also appears in the search results for a supported city, below the Flyover and Directions buttons.

When you're in Look Around mode, tapping on the display lets you move through the area, while tapping in a far off spot in the distance zooms in quickly in a smoother and more immersive way than Google Street View.

To help orient you in Look Around mode, points of interest such as bars, restaurants, parks and the like are identified by floating icons at street level. Note, however, that you can only zoom into areas that can be accessed by vehicles since the Look Around data is captured by cars fitted with 360-degree cameras.

Related: How to Use Look Around in Apple Maps

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Slim Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With 'Major' Design Changes and 19-Inch MacBook Detailed in New Report

Sunday December 15, 2024 9:47 am PST by
Apple is planning a series of "major design" and "format changes" for iPhones over the next few years, according to The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley and Yang Jie. The paywalled report published today corroborated the widely-rumored "iPhone 17 Air" with an "ultrathin" design that is thinner than current iPhone models. The report did not mention a specific measurement, but previous...
Generic iOS 18

Apple Releases First Betas of iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3

Monday December 16, 2024 10:06 am PST by
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming a week after Apple released iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2. iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3 can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software update. There's no word yet on what's included in iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3, ...
Magic Mouse Next to Keyboard

Apple 'Working' on Redesigned Magic Mouse With a Long-Awaited 'Fix'

Sunday December 15, 2024 8:43 am PST by
Apple is working on a redesigned Magic Mouse that will address some "longstanding complaints," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said Apple in recent months has been working on a "full overhaul" of the Magic Mouse with a design that "better fits the modern era." However, he does not expect the new Magic Mouse to be released in the "next 12 to 18...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

New Apple TV Rumored to Launch Next Year With These Features

Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
AirTag 2 Mock Feature

AirTag 2 Expected to Launch Next Year With 'Considerable' Upgrade to Item Tracking

Sunday December 15, 2024 2:57 pm PST by
Apple plans to release a second-generation AirTag next year with "considerably" longer range for item tracking, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the new AirTag will use Apple's second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, or equivalent technology. The chip debuted last year in the iPhone 15 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2, and Apple said it offers up...
Apple TV 4K hero 221018 feature

Here is Everything New for the Apple TV in the tvOS 18.3 Update So Far

Tuesday December 17, 2024 6:25 am PST by
Apple on Monday seeded the first tvOS 18.3 beta to developers for testing. The update will likely be released in January. So far, there are only minor changes for the Apple TV, with one new feature and a few code changes discovered. Below, we outline what is new in tvOS 18.3 so far. Robot Vacuum Support in Home App First, tvOS 18.3 will add robot vacuum support to the Home app on the...

Top Rated Comments

CarlJ Avatar
63 months ago

Great quality. Much better than most of current Google Street View images. Funny thing that Google launched Street View in 2007. It took Apple 12 years to come up with something similar.
Uh, 12 years ago Apple wasn't in the mapping business.

How good were you at, say, reading or math, 5 years before you were born?
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
satchmo Avatar
63 months ago

Great quality. Much better than most of current Google Street View images. Funny thing that Google launched Street View in 2007. It took Apple 12 years to come up with something similar.
In 2007, Apple was busy unveiling a transformative device that changed the way we live, all the while protecting our privacy.

Some might say Google has yet to come up with something similar. ?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
r3econ Avatar
63 months ago
Great quality. Much better than most of current Google Street View images. Funny thing that Google launched Street View in 2007. It took Apple 12 years to come up with something similar.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bchery21 Avatar
63 months ago
With a radius that covers all the way out to Waltham it seems, nice!
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cmaier Avatar
63 months ago

This is a fantastic new feature. Have to say I am disappointed that Apple is playing out the cliché by starting on both coasts and abandoning the middle of the country.
It‘s a practical decision - that’s where the population is higher. Get the feature to more people sooner that way. They’ll get the rest of the country before too long.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
citysnaps Avatar
63 months ago

Great quality. Much better than most of current Google Street View images. Funny thing that Google launched Street View in 2007. It took Apple 12 years to come up with something similar.
I suspect that has to do with Google and Apple's different business models. Google developed maps as a means to collect huge amounts of user data that could be used to sell ads, their core business, and thus was highly incentivized to get the ball rolling.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)