Gone are the days when Google Maps was just a digital version of the ancient and glorious paper road maps.
Already in recent months Maps has shown some notable innovations, including Immersive Viewing.
A series of Google Maps updates based on artificial intelligence are now active in Italy too. Designed to make planning and navigation easier and also to offer a new way to search and explore a place. What is it about?
AI-powered Google Maps updates
The new features of Maps based on artificial intelligence were presented in an official blog post, published in Italian on Thursday 26 October.
“Today, thanks to the power of artificial intelligence, we are announcing more updates to help you plan and navigate with confidence, make sustainable choices, and quickly find inspiration for things to do in the real world.”
Immersive View
The important new feature Immersive View for routes was already presented at I/O in May.
Initially available only in Los Angeles, London, New York, San Francisco and Tokyo, “over the course of this week” it will be available in other cities, including Venice and Florence. As well as Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dublin, Las Vegas, Miami, Paris, San Jose and Seattle.
With Immersive View for routes you plan a route and indicate the means of transport. After which the entire planned route will appear in a fascinating multidimensional guise.
“You can prepare for every turn as if you were there with detailed, visual guidance, and use the time slider to plan when to leave based on useful information, such as simulated traffic and weather conditions. This way, you can easily avoid driving when it rains or there is heavy traffic.”
The use of AI
Immersive View is made possible by artificial intelligence, which merges billions of Street View, satellite and aerial images together. The result is to make known in a realistic way the appearance of an attraction, but also of a club or restaurant, before the user goes there in person.
“We’re also helping developers create their own immersive experiences, with the launch of Photorealistic 3D Tiles in Google Maps Platform this week.”
Lens in Maps
Artificial intelligence will also help you navigate new environments, for example if you have just exited a subway station or are in a neighborhood you have never visited.
Among the new AI-based Google Maps updates useful in this sense there is also Lens in Maps (formerly called Live View Search). Which with a mix of artificial intelligence and augmented reality help you quickly orient yourself in new environments.
By touching the Lens icon in the search bar and lifting the phone you can find information on services in the surrounding environment: shops, restaurants, ATMs…
“Starting this week, Lens in Maps will arrive in over 50 new cities around the world, including Austin, Las Vegas, Rome, Milan, Sao Paulo and Taipei.”
Other functions
Among the most recent Google Maps updates, we also highlight one greater attention to electric vehicleswith the indication of the compatibility of the charging stations with your vehicle, and the speed of each station.
Also, thanks to visual search modeyou will be able to consult photographic results, based on the analysis of billions of photos (shared by the Google Maps community), thanks to artificial intelligence and advanced image recognition models.
Just scroll through the results and click on a photo to find out more.
“This new way to search Google Maps is rolling out in France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US this week, and will roll out to other countries over time.”
Italians and travel: a Google search
Google also made public the results of research that the company commissioned from Censuswide. The results:
- over 90% of those interviewed said they found it useful to have a visual preview of their route before setting off
- avoiding traffic and busy roads (53%), feeling safer (50%), feeling more prepared (46%) and traveling with family (25%) are the main reasons why Italians want more information about their trips
- Motorists find information on traffic levels (63%), the fastest route (54%) and parking (49%) more useful before setting off on the road
- for cyclists, access to cycle paths along their route is the most important thing (71%), followed by the type of road (48%), knowing where to store the bicycle (41%) and the fastest route (40 %)
- 50% of those interviewed who travel on foot and use public transport revealed that they would also like to know in advance the fastest route, have access to information on public transport (40%) and have information that helps them get around safely ( 39%) along the way.