Our long national nightmare is over: Google Maps app for iPhone is now live

The new Google Maps for iPhone is now live. You can download it here. (Full story below screenshots)

Walkthrough and screenshots below:

Welcome screen when you open up for the first time:

Instructions and tips on logging in:

Current location view:

Getting directions screen:

Top level route maps for directions:

The disclaimer, of course:

Start of turn by turn nav:

Options on turn-by-turn, including turning voice navigation off:

List view on directions:

Satellite view on location:

Local transit view for maps (amazing!):

Info sheet on any location, which pulls up from the bottom of the screen:

Street view, of course:

Zagat review integrated for local restaurants etc:

 For some restaurants, 360 degree inside pics!

And OpenTable integration to book these restaurants:

Bloomberg, by Brian Womack — Google Inc. unveiled its mapping application for Apple Inc.’s iPhone, iPad and other iOS devices, restoring a popular tool that Apple replaced with its own in September.

The new Google Maps app is available in more than 40 countries and 29 languages, Google said in a blog posting today.

Google was widely expected to introduce its own mapping app after the new version of Apple’s iOS mobile software removed Google’s built-in maps app. Apple added new features such as turn-by-turn navigation and fly-over views of landscapes. IOS software runs iPhones and iPads, which compete with smartphones and tablets that run Google’s Android operating system.

“People around the world have been asking for Google Maps on iPhone,” the company said. “Starting today, we’re pleased to announce that Google Maps is here.”

Critics have faulted Apple’s new map software for unreliable landmark searches, routes that get users lost and lack of public transit directions. The company is seeking to build confidence in the program amid a growing battle with Google, whose mapping application had been built into Apple’s iPhone since its introduction in 2007.

While Apple’s map program doesn’t appear to have hurt sales of the iPhone 5, it was a rare public misstep that forced Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook to apologize to customers.

A team at Apple has been working to fix the mapping mistakes, focusing first on some of the most glaring problems, one person said. The satellite imagery over the U.K. has been improved and labels for popular U.S. landmarks such as the Washington Monument have been corrected.

Apple, which also eliminated the preinstalled app for Google’s YouTube video service, built the replacement map program because it wanted to scale back its relationship with Google, two people familiar with Apple’s development of maps said in September.

The company’s bungled introduction of new mapping features contributed to the ouster of mobile-software chief Scott Forstall, whose departure was announced in October.

–Editors: Reed Stevenson, Anand Krishnamoorthy.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Womack in San Francisco at bwomack1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net