Google’s superb gratis navigation service for smartphones – Google Maps for mobile – has received a rather glossy update, as was shown off by the company’s Andy Rubin at the D: Dive into Mobile event last night.

Version 5 of the software has had a bit of a facelift, and added 3D vector graphics to the proceedings. This information has been gifted to 100 cities around the globe, and means that you’ll be able to guide yourself around with the help of 3D buildings and landmarks guiding the way.

What’s more, new gesture controls will allow you to swipe or tilt the phone to angle the 3D view, as well as gift smoother pinch to zoom. All this info is stored in the cloud and accessed on the fly, so there’s no need for it to clog up your handset’s memory. The list of devices that’ll support the update is as follows: Galaxy S, Droid (Milestone), Droid X, Droid 2, Droid Incredible, Evo, Nexus S, G2.

Link: Via Engadget