Google Maps sprouts 3D buildings in London, Paris and more cities

Buildings are springing up all across London town, and we're not talking about new skyscrapers. Google Maps now includes 3D images of buildings proudly raised above the map of the capital.

The update for Google Maps 5.0 for Android and maps.google.com shows isometric projections of buildings and landmarks in the centre of London, although not every building is yet included. Swipe a finger across your Android phone's map and see buildings mushroom thrillingly upwards.

Maps can also rotate, tilt and zoom in and out of 3D maps on your phone or tablet.

The isometric drawings don't cover the whole city just yet: the 3D buildings radiate out from the area around Covent Garden and Waterloo. Parts of the West End, including about half of Soho, spread out west to Green Park and Buckingham Palace, east to the Bank of England and Aldgate, and North to Euston. Patchy spots of the South Bank are mapped from Vauxhall to the Tower of London, as far south as the Oval.

Many of London's classic buildings are now 3D, but by no means all. Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London appear in three dimensions. The Tate Modern is now 3D although its sibling Battersea Power Station isn't. MI6 headquarters is 3D -- yet CNET Towers isn't. Still, we don't feel too bad, as Google's London office isn't 3D-ified yet either.

You can also swoop past Nelson's Column, the Gherkin, and even the half-finished Shard, already the tallest building in Britain.

As well as our nation's capital, there are now 3D buildings in maps of Paris, Barcelona, Stockholm, Singapore, Lisbon, Boulder, and 11 cities in South Africa. Previously, Birmingham and Cardiff were the only UK cities to get the tri-dee treatment.

Many of London's landmarks got the 3D route recently when Google Maps and Google Earth celebrated the royal wedding.