Google Maps 5.0: Why Even Bother Looking At The Road?

Smart phone users love Google maps, as they should. It wasn’t too long ago when Google added turn-by-turn navigation, resulting in the anti-climactic killing of GPS manufacturers around the world. But now it is about to get even more interesting when Google releases Google Maps 5 for Android. On top of the feature list: we’re going to get 3D buildings! Initially, it doesn’t sound that mind blowing, until you realize the potential: people can potentially stare at the smart phones while walking with the GPS enabled and avoid running into mammoth-sized buildings, drive without ever taking their eyes off their smart phone (who wants to drive while looking at the road any more, anyways?), and walk into a specific building without ever looking at it. Dangerous, you say? Well, I say it’s freakin’ awesome! And a few Android phones are slated to get the phone first. I guess we should mention that there is also a few other features like offline map caching and increased speed. Yawn. But I’m still waiting for the update that plots manholes and underground sewage lines. Walking directly into a manhole is still a definite risk, at least at this point in time. There’s always 6.0, right?