Maps is one of the most important applications in Google's entire lineup, and at Google I/O 2021, Google unveiled a heap of new features that are coming soon to the platform. From safer navigation to more detailed information, there's a lot to keep an eye out for.
While some people may think of Google Maps as nothing more than a simple turn-by-turn navigation app, it's become far more than that over the years. It's great for turn-by-turn, sure, but it's also an incredible tool for finding the best restaurants in an area, checking commute times to work, looking up local transit, and countless other things. Maps is also a constantly changing service that gets new features all the time, as evident by all the announcements from I/O.
First thing's first, Google wants to reduce how often people find themselves in hard-braking situations while driving. Using its machine learning technology and other navigation info, Google Maps will soon analyze multiple route options and recommend ones that are potentially safer — such as ones that don't have busy intersections. Google says this should reduce 100 million hard-braking events by people using Google Maps every single year, potentially making roads a lot safer. If these alternate routes have similar ETA times to normal ones, they'll be recommended automatically. For Google Maps users that rely on the application for walking, Google is also upgrading Live View. Live View will be more easily accessible if Google detects someone is in a new neighborhood, there will be more context for street signs, and it can tell users where they are in relationship to something like their hotel — helpful when on vacation in a new area.
Google Maps Is Also Becoming More Detailed And Personalized
On the note of cramming more information into Maps, Google is expanding detailed street maps to 50 additional cities by the end of 2021. This uses AI and other images to better recreate maps of specific areas, showing more accurate representations of crosswalks, traffic lights, sidewalks, and more. While not all of the cities have been detailed just yet, Google says some of the candidates include Seattle, Singapore, Berlin, and São Paulo.
Similarly, Google is making it even easier to see how busy places are during certain times of day. While Maps already shows how busy a specific business is, it will soon show how busy a more generalized area on the map is. For example, if there's a strip mall or park that's especially crowded one morning, that area will be outlined in Google Maps and tell users that it's busier than usual. Especially in a world where many people are still practicing social distancing, a feature like this should really come in handy.
Last but not least, Google Maps is getting more personalized. Opening Google Maps can sometimes feel overwhelming with all the information that's presented, but Google thinks it's discovered a way to combat this. If someone opens the Maps app early in the morning before work, Google might highlight coffee shops on the map. These recommendations are based on someone's location, whether they're traveling, and the time of day. That's a lot to take in at once, but this should all come together to make the Maps experience that much better. All the new features are expected to be available "in the coming months" for both Android and iOS.
Source: Google (1), (2)