Apple (or its minions) has been sending squadrons of aircraft

Apple (or its minions) has been sending squadrons of aircraft all over the planet to produce detailed 3D maps of major cities. The planes criss-cross the area and produce detailed views of every block from every angle, collecting volumes of imagery and data. The result is a video game-style 3D environment of the city which reproduces streets, buildings, and features in high detail and at near-photographic quality. You can freely travel through this environment and via multitouch gestures that move you through the city, change your elevation, and rotate you around a point of interest.

On an iPhone screen, the feature is functional. On the big screen of a Retina-quality iPad, 3D Maps is completely immersive and it's almost compulsive. Honest to God: it's like there's an edition of Grand Theft Auto set in this city, and you've flying around in a stolen traffic helicopter. You would expect to see 3D versions of the city's most famous buildings, and yup, they're all there. But Flyover covers everything, block after block. There's enough detail to see 3D cars and monuments, and sunbathers in Boston Common. The McKimBuilding of the Boston Public Library includes a small courtyard that's open to the sky and surrounded on all four sides by several stories. I might have expected the courtyard to be artificially capped off but no: you can peer inside and see the fountain and move around and view all four of the interior faces of the building that encloses it.