During Apple’s WWDC keynote event on Monday, the company introduced iOS 6 with a redesigned Maps application, built entirely from the ground up. Rumors that Apple was looking to abandon its reliance on Google’s Map data for its Maps app were around for quite some time, and now it has been confirmed.

The new and improved Maps application in iOS 6 adds a number of features not seen in the Google version included in iOS since the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. All of the cartography was done by Apple, with images taken from airplanes from above for the 3D mapping portion of the data.

The new Maps app is based entirely off a Vector engine, providing smooth scrolling, panning and zooming when navigating maps. Features of the new Maps application include, turn-by-turn directions that can also be operated with Siri, local search for millions of businesses,, a crowd-sourced traffic service for real time updates on accidents and traffic issues, Yelp integration, and 3D mapping called ‘Flyover’. The Turn by Turn navigation is presented with street names, smooth, and can switch quickly from an overhead map to navigation.

Apple’s 3D Flyover feature is an excellent replacement for Google’s own Street View and allows users to pan, zoom, tilt, and rotate an almost real time 3D image. The 3D images allow for a 360° view of buildings and allows direct interaction with the picture, unlike the current version which can only be moved horizontally or vertically and is restricted at some points.

iOS 6 will be released publicly sometime during the fall timeframe of iPhone 5. Apple issued iOS 6 beta 1 to developers during the event on Monday and will release several betas before the public release.

{Image Credit: Apple}

Earlier in the week, Google announced an event to unveil plans to release the “Next Dimension” of Google Maps, ahead of Apple’s announcement of iOS 6. On Wednesday, during the event, Google unveiled 3D Maps, a technology that looks very similar to Apple’s recently acquired C3 Technologies. The 3D renderings for Google Earth were all shown off on Apple’s iPad, and with the new technology expected to be released on iOS and Android.

Google uses the new 3D maps by extracting data from aerial models taken from airplanes, and then forming a 3D image from all of the data. Ground images are shot from 45 degrees at four angles and are later pieced together to form an entire 3D image. The event mainly focused on the 3D maps, where attendees were shown numerous demonstrations on how the technology worked.

Google mentioned that the new features, which is being added into Google Maps and Google Earth, will be coming to iOS and Android, “in the coming weeks”.

{via AppleInsider}

In the interests of full disclosure I’ll say this up front; I’m not usually one for the scheduling / collision avoidance genre of games. I’ve played a rather famous one that involves airplanes (FlightControl) for almost six months and I can’t crack the 20 plane mark. It’s almost enough to make a person feel inadequate.

Although Railroad Rush from RockaByte is in the same genre as its more famous plane landing cousin, I have to say I found it immensely fun and challenging. I guess sometimes it’s not about beating the game but the will to continue playing it. In that respect, Railroad Rush beats out a lot of competitors.

So as I alluded to earlier, Railroad Rush is a student of the scheduling / collision avoidance / landing at home base safe genre of games. In it you must guide varying numbers of trains around a train yard; getting the proper trains to the proper stations and avoiding collisions while you’re at it. While the lower levels are a bit more forgiving about number of collisions allowed and the consequences of those collisions, the higher levels will test your skills to the maximum.

Trains are guided around the yard by opening and closing junctions with a tap. Trains will move until they come to a closed junction and wait for your intervention. Be careful not to wait too long as the effects of indecision can be just as disastrous as moving your trains around too fast. Like all games in this genre, the effective player is one who is clearheaded enough to think quickly but not panic when things getting a little tough.

Besides the gameplay, which never seemed repetitive to me, Railroad Rush has a lot of nice features. Leveling is nicely varied and challenging. There are 30 tracks, each with an easy, medium, hard, and extreme tracks. So that is in reality a 120 different levels to experience. There are few other games that give you that varied an experience. The game is also OpenFeint enabled so you can not only keep track of your own high scores but post and read the high scores of users all over the world. If you already have an OpenFeint enabled game on your system, it will pick up your user and log you in automatically. Even as you play there is a scoreboard that displays your local score and the running leaders on OpenFeint.

Overall I really enjoyed Railroad Rush and I think you would too. This is certainly a game for all ages and especially one for any train fanatics in your family. Railroad Rush definitely does not go off the rails.

Price: $.99

The Good

• Lots of levels to keep you entertained.
• Fun for all ages.
• Non-repetitive play.
• OpenFeint support.

The Not So Good

• Graphics are a tad simplistic.

Reviewed By: Erin Peterson

Railroad Rush – iPhone/iPod touch Gameplay