Get Street Views in Apple Maps with a 99 cent app

If you haven't migrated to Google Maps on iOS because you're OK with Apple Maps but you miss Google Street View, here's a pretty easy solution.

The US$0.99 app Street View can give you those street views for your destination. Apple allows the launch of third-party apps from the Maps app for things like getting transportation maps. That bit of leeway allows other apps to take advantage of that functionality, so the developers at FutureTap have made it all work. It's not seamless, but it is easy.

When you are ready to route to your destination, hit the routing arrow at the upper left in Apple Maps. That will allow you to select the Street Maps app when you select the transportation icon, and you'll see a 360-degree view of your destination if there is one available. When done, tap the maps icon and you're back to Apple Maps and ready to navigate.

Of course the Google Maps iOS app has this feature built in, and some other third-party navigation apps like Navigon build in the Google Street Maps too. But using the Street View App gets you the same feature using Apple Maps.

Actually, for my travels in the southwest United States, Apple Maps has been just fine, and I like the integration with Siri and my contacts list. With the addition of Google Street Views, I feel Apple Maps is pretty much complete.

The app is universal, and requires iOS 6 or greater. It is optimized to use the full screen on the iPhone 5.