New App Highlights Over 300 Custom-Designed 3D Landmarks in Apple Maps

Since the release of iOS 15 in 2021, Apple Maps has been rolling out a more detailed map with custom-designed landmarks in major cities around the world. The new "Detailed City Experience" is now available in Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Sydney, Toronto, and several other cities, with more to come.

Landmarks App
Montréal-based developers André Baev and Simon Gardinier recently released a new Landmarks app with a collection of over 300 of these 3D landmarks, ranging from the Royal Opera House in London to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The app is available on the App Store for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV, and requires a device with an A12 chip or M1 chip and newer to properly display the 3D landmarks in full color and detail.

Each landmark has an immersive animated landscape that you can interact with, and there is a toggle for viewing them in Light or Dark mode. The landmarks are organized by city and the app will be regularly updated with new models as they become available. The app is free to use and has no ads, but there is an optional gyroscope feature that can be unlocked for as little as $0.29 for users who wish to support the developers.

Apple periodically updates a list of locations where the Detailed City Experience is available on its iOS feature availability page.

Baev also released a similar Preflights app that provides 3D map views of major airports, complete with essential information.

Popular Stories

ios 18 4 carplay

Apple Upgrades CarPlay in Two Ways

Wednesday March 12, 2025 6:05 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 18.4 update for the iPhone includes a smaller but meaningful improvement for Apple's in-car iPhone mirroring system CarPlay. Specifically, CarPlay now shows a third row of icons, up from two rows previously. However, this change is only visible in vehicles with a larger center display. For example, a MacRumors Forums member noticed the change in a Toyota Tundra with a...
Apple More Personal Siri Ad

John Gruber Says 'Something is Rotten' at Apple

Wednesday March 12, 2025 7:39 pm PDT by
Daring Fireball's John Gruber today shared some strongly-worded comments about Apple's delayed personalized Siri features. Gruber is a well-known Apple pundit who has been writing about the company for more than two decades. In a blog post titled "Something Is Rotten in the State of Cupertino," Gruber said Apple's credibility has been "damaged" by the delay:Keynote by keynote, product by...
airpods pro 2 gradient

AirPods Pro 3 Launch Now Just Months Away: Here's What We Know

Tuesday March 11, 2025 3:26 am PDT by
Despite being released over two years ago, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 continue to dominate the wireless earbud market. However, with the AirPods Pro 3 expected to launch in 2025, anyone thinking of buying Apple's premium earbuds may be wondering if the next generation is worth holding out for. Apart from their audio and noise-canceling performance, which are generally regarded as excellent for...
Apple Maps vs Google Maps Feature

iOS 18.4 Adds a Highly-Requested Setting to iPhones — But Not in U.S.

Wednesday March 12, 2025 1:05 pm PDT by
iPhones are finally getting a much-requested setting, but availability is limited. The upcoming iOS 18.4 update introduces an option to set a default navigation app, other than Apple Maps, but unfortunately this new setting is limited to users in the EU. There, you can now set an app like Google Maps or Waze as your default navigation app on the iPhone by opening the Settings app and tapping ...
iphone 17 pro asherdipps

iPhone 17 Pro Max Rumors Allegedly Refer to 'iPhone 17 Ultra' Model

Friday March 14, 2025 7:56 am PDT by
If you've been following iPhone rumors over the last few years, you may remember reading reports that Apple flirted with the idea of introducing a super high-end "Ultra" model that would either replace its Pro Max device or sit above it in Apple's smartphone hirearchy. These reports appeared in the pre-launch iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 rumor cycles, but ultimately came to nothing. Now though, the...
iPhone 17 Pro Render Front Page Tech

iPhone 17 Pro Machined Parts Leak Reflects Camera Redesign Rumors

Thursday March 13, 2025 3:07 am PDT by
Apple's upcoming iPhone 17 Pro models are expected to feature a significant design overhaul, and a new image apparently taken on an assembly line for the unreleased devices appears to confirm the biggest rumored change. Render of an iPhone 17 Pro model shared by Jon Prosser The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to adopt a horizontal camera bar reminiscent of Google's Pixel...
Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Will Bring Biggest Design Overhaul Since iOS 7

Monday March 10, 2025 12:17 pm PDT by
Apple is planning for a major design overhaul of the iPhone, iPad, and Mac interfaces with the introduction of iOS 19, iPadOS 19, and macOS 16 later this year, reports Bloomberg. The update will "fundamentally change" the look of Apple's operating system, introducing a more consistent cross-platform experience. Apple plans to update the style of icons, menus, apps, windows, and system...
Sad Siri Feature

Kuo: Apple Knows Apple Intelligence is 'Underwhelming' and Won't Drive iPhone Upgrades

Thursday March 13, 2025 9:32 am PDT by
The Apple Intelligence features that Apple introduced with iOS 18 are not pushing people to upgrade their iPhones, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reiterated today. Apple's recent Siri failures are also going to have an impact on 2025 iPhone shipments, which the market is beginning to realize. As early as last July, Kuo said expectations that Apple Intelligence could drive iPhone upgrades were...
Sad Siri Feature

Kuo: Cook Should Personally Address Siri Apple Intelligence Failure

Thursday March 13, 2025 4:02 pm PDT by
Apple made a major misstep with the way that it handled the delay of Apple Intelligence features for Siri, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today. Announcing the delay through a press statement was a bad decision, and Apple should instead have gone through official channels. Kuo referenced the well-known "Antennagate" PR crisis when the iPhone 4 launched in 2010, and the way that then Apple...

Top Rated Comments

jbc25 Avatar
26 months ago
Why would you want to download a separate app to look at these, what's the point? Also, the way this post is written makes you think it's an Apple Maps feature.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GeoStructural Avatar
26 months ago
I like the direction Apple Maps is taking; the graphics are gorgeous, the Look-around feature is vastly superior to Google's offering, and the 3D views are rich and realistic.

Apple Maps has sure come a long way, but it still has a lot to improve. One thing I would like them to improve is precision, Google still beats it on the best route, Apple Maps still sends me around my destination instead of straight there. Two other aspects are pinpoint managements and up-to-date maps and street names.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Macaholic868 Avatar
26 months ago
Just had a fun “conversation” in the new Bing app about 80’s synth pop and where I can find playlists for modern songs made in that style. Then I used Siri to play the music through my HomePod. Meanwhile Apple’s hard at work adding custom details about cities I won’t be visiting anytime soon into their maps app and coming out with new emoji and watch bands.

WTF Apple? They should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time considering they basically have a license to print money at this point but I’m increasingly concerned they can’t. Siri is a joke and other companies have already done most of the heavy lifting required to vastly improve it if Apple would just pony up, pay the licensing fees and integrate it into their own SDK and API’s.

Apple should be both doing that and working on their own in-house AI style engine but shouldn’t leave their customers reliant on Microsoft or Google for a decent audio based smart assistant. It’s a bad look from Apple.

I fear their bum rush to get overly expensive VR equipment nobody will use out the door is outweighing smart practical moves like developing their own in-house next generation AI style engine or licensing what’s already out there to almost instantly improve Siri.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DaPizzaMan Avatar
26 months ago

Why would you want to download a separate app to look at these, what's the point? Also, the way this post is written makes you think it's an Apple Maps feature.
There's a lack of discoverability in Apple Maps. I wouldn't know where to look to find 3D Landmarks in the Apple Maps app. This Landmarks app makes them all easy to find - with an option to open in Apple Maps.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MasterControlProgram Avatar
26 months ago
I’d have preferred if Apple had carried on doing the 3D cities they’ve done so far. While these new models are nice, they look more basic than the more detailed and textured models they’ve already done:



These old 3D models were animated too (e.g. the London Eye rotates). So I’m not sure why they’ve half finished one 3D map and started on another one. ?

Attachment Image
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
h.gilbert Avatar
26 months ago
Ah yes the landmark that is the apple fifth avenue store
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)