(Pocket-lint) - Apple has added interactive, animated objects to its 3D maps in Apple Maps. Big Ben (the clock on Elizabeth Tower at the Houses of Parliament) now shows the time on all four clock faces in real time.

In addition, the London Eye attraction now rotates when you visit it in the app.

Apple has also added new flyover cities, meaning you can scroll around them in the app with photo-realistic representations of the buildings and streets in major metropolitan areas rendered in 3D.

Ediburgh, Linz, Venice, Cáceres, Rennes, Guadalajara and Ponce are now available to view in three-dimensions. A collection of additional US cities have been added too.

Apple Maps had a shaky start to its life in September 2012 but since then has ironed out freak place details and bugs to become a valid competitor to Google Maps. The flyover feature, which now covers most of London, has been a big success in terms of rendering the satellite map options in an accurate fashion.

Those who would rather look at the traditional viewpoints to quickly see where they are or search for a location can do that too. Live traffic information is also supplied and the map can be switched from 3D to 2D easily.

Writing by Rik Henderson.