Long gone are the days when you carried a paper map every time you set out on a mini voyage thanks largely to Google Maps. Simply the most preferred and accurate mapping solution, Google Maps has condensed the whole world into the confinements your beloved smartphone. Google Maps currently supports a total of 200 countries with North Korea being the latest addition to the family.
It was a classic case of a good product going on to be even better, as Google Maps both for Smartphones and Desktop received a bumper update at the Google I/O 2013 held at Moscone Center in San Francisco. So what has changed? Let’s look at all the new features.
What’s new in Google Maps for Android and iOS?
The UI of both Google Maps on Android and iOS will be identical as that would bring much needed uniformity across the application and Google has promised it would be much easier to navigate through both the applications. Google has added an interesting new feature where you can easily search for a restaurant and you will get the locations right on the map. Tapping on, there is interesting information like the hours of the restaurant or the review of the place.
Image Credits: Techcrunch
The maps for mobile will come integrated with Zagat, so you will no more have to open an app like Zomato to exclusively look at the review of the restaurant you are looking to visit. You could also look up useful information like the address and make a phone call too to the restaurant. There is also an option of sharing the place with your friends via various sharing options. You can also swipe across different suggestions at the bottom of maps to move to the next one.
Image Credits: Techcrunch
Another interesting additional feature is that when you tap on the restaurant, the application would automatically search online if there are any discount coupons that you could use. This is indeed a very handy add on, so that you do not have to separately search for promo codes or discount coupons online. In case there is an accident or a traffic jam on a route then the application would automatically re-route you so that you do not waste your time getting stuck in.
Image Credits: Techcrunch
Google has also added full Tablet support for the Maps application and you could simply ‘Explore’ the place which would automatically give you the places you must visit. However, maps for both Android and iOS would be updated over the summer and no real time frame was announced when we can try the application out. However, some of these features really affirm the belief that Google is still the standout player when it comes to digital mapping solutions and they just got a whole lot better on mobile.
What is new in Google Maps on Desktop?
The big announcements and updates, safe to say, were left for Google Maps on desktop. It has been a while since Google really gave a face lift to the Maps for desktop. “The future of Google Maps” will roll out on desktop before eventually making its way inevitably to mobile.
Image Credits: Technobuffalo
Google Maps for Desktop has been re-engineered from the ground for web and now fully integrates Google Earth and supports 3D viewing. You can completely zoom out and view the position of Earth in space. Not just this, everything including the position of the clouds and cloud cover is all real time which bought a massive applause from the seated audience. You can also simply take a picture of a venue or find it on the web and walk into the interior of the place giving a more real world feel.
Image Credits: Techcrunch
This is not all, the maps would integrate with your G+ profile meaning you will be able to read reviews that your friends might have written. All the results are marked right on the maps and descriptions are available right there. You do not need any sort of cross linking as all the information is available directly in the maps. The maps have a beautiful colorful scheme and UI by looks of it is very neat.
Image Credits: Techcrunch
You can also enter in two cities and get flight connectivity and links to purchase a ticket.
The people who did get a hands on time with the application were impressed with the overall snappiness of the application but during faster transitions there were reported visible minute lags. You can still perform the basic searches and have street view like earlier but things just look a lot more polished now.
Image Credits: Techcrunch
The Web version of Google Maps has the same Card like UI as Google Now does and it may take a while getting used to it. You can also customize your favorite features with landmarks and they will appear as proper locations thanks to 3D support. Your web history as well as reviews will help Google recommend you more places that you might want to visit and they currently track over 100 million places.
Image Credits: Techcrunch
Another important thing to note is that the dreaded sidebar is now gone. As a result, your search results are overlaying on the maps which gives the maps a little bit more screen estate. Although, just like Google Maps for Android and iOS there is no clear date as to when the updates will roll out but you can receive an invite to try out a preview of the new maps by requesting a preview by visiting the following URL.
http://maps.google.com/preview
Overall, Google Maps are a lot more cleaner and easier to use than ever before. Not just that, the search time has come down dramatically too and 3D support means everything is so much more realistic and real time. We just hope that the updates roll out soon, cause we simply cannot wait to get our hands dirty.
