Map apps have become popular companions in everyday life.

Whether it's finding your way to your destination in an unfamiliar area, seeing a list of post offices in the area, or looking for a supermarket that's still open today - services like Google Maps, Here Maps, or the non-commercial alternative Open Street maps are generally available to users free of charge.

Bastian Benrath

Editor in Business.

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If you wanted to know whether the supermarket suggested by the app also had a parking space, you would often use Google's "Street View" function.

More than ten years ago, Google first sent camera cars through Germany for the service, which provides detailed photos of almost all city streets with their houses in Germany.

This is exactly where Apple wants to compete with the search engine company – with a considerable time lag.

Apple announced on Thursday that it had released a new version of its iPhone app, simply called “Maps”, in Germany.

This should also enable precise navigation for pedestrians and cyclists through pedestrian zones, parks, airports and shopping centers - also through interiors.

With the help of augmented reality technology, arrows should appear in the cell phone's camera view to show the user the way.

There are also 3D models of cities in Germany including detailed models of sights such as the Brandenburg Gate, the Elbphilharmonie or Neuschwanstein Castle.

Recordings with laser radar

As a competitor to Street View, detailed photos of streets and buildings are to be provided.

In Germany, however, this function is initially limited to Munich, the city of Apple's German headquarters.

As the group announced, four teams of employees with camera backpacks have been on the road in Cologne since the beginning of April – probably until the beginning of July.

The backpacks not only take photos, but also scan the surroundings with laser radars in order to record them three-dimensionally.

Apple made its first recordings in Germany last summer in Munich, Berlin and Hamburg.

With an indirect dig at Google, Apple also emphasized that the new map app is very privacy-friendly.

Faces and license plates would be blurred out in the recordings by default, as would any other information that identifies individuals.

As with Google, residents can request that their house be pixelated in the recordings.

In addition, Apple Maps can be used without any registration and the data generated when using the app is not linked to the user's Apple ID, Apple said.

Apple made the strategic decision more than a decade ago to set up its own map service instead of the Google maps initially used in the iPhone.

This was initially based largely on data from the third-party providers Tomtom and Open Street Map, followed by the decision to create detailed map material ourselves.

After initial difficulties, Apple invested heavily in the service.

Experts assume that investments over the past few years have amounted to several billion dollars.

This begs the question of how Apple intends to recoup this money.

Annette Zimmermann, analyst at the market research company Gartner, does not assume that the service will cover its costs.

Although Apple makes money from making the map material available to software developers via API interfaces, the main expenses are investments.

They may have served as preparation for the Apple car that has been speculated about for some time.

"I could imagine that something will come up at some point - maybe next year," says Zimmermann.

"And for that you need maps, that's clear." Centimeter-accurate 3D map material is a basic requirement, especially for cars that may drive autonomously in the future.