Landmarks and bike rides: the three latest additions to Google Maps

Anyone who finds that there is nothing to improve on "Google Maps" has made the calculation without the developers of the IT giant.

Landmarks and bike rides: the three latest additions to Google Maps

Anyone who finds that there is nothing to improve on "Google Maps" has made the calculation without the developers of the IT giant. They have come up with three new functions that invite you to extensive exploration tours on the screen. They mainly use artificial intelligence to get even more out of the service. These are the three new features of "Google Maps".

For several years now, "Maps" (Android/iOS) has offered users the option of uploading photos from any location. This happens particularly often in famous places like the Empire State Building in New York, Big Ben in London or the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Now Google is giving all of this data - and others such as satellite and street view images - to an artificial intelligence, which uses them to create a 360-degree aerial photograph. Finding it is child's play: simply type in the sight of your choice in the search bar and the moving image recording can be seen in the photo area. This is a short video that cannot be interacted with, but which allows a worthwhile insight into the respective sight and its surroundings. If you can't find the feature on your device yet, you don't have to wait much longer: Because it's a server-side update, the rollout will take a few days - older devices are also able to do this, the short videos within the app to represent.

Being navigated by "Maps" by bike has been standard in the app for more than twelve years. However, navigation has so far paid little attention to aspects such as gradients or traffic density. That changes with the latest update. "Maps" not only shows the altitude profile of a route in the future, but also provides further detailed information on the course of the route. Even before the journey, users can find out whether the route is taking them along busy main roads or quiet side roads. Here, too, artificial intelligence is used, which Google intends to use even more in the future, as the company states in its blog: "AI will continue to play a decisive role in making Google Maps an even more comprehensive and useful map for people in the world all over the world."

Sharing his location with friends is already possible today via "Maps". Users can choose whether they only want to make their GPS location visible for a certain period of time or until the function is deactivated again. Google also leaves it up to its users with whom they share this information. In order to deepen the feature, "Maps" now offers the possibility of being informed by push notification when someone has reached a certain location. There are many application examples for this: From large crowds such as concerts, where it is easy to get lost, to the classic "Please get in touch when you get home". If you arrive at the specified location, people with whom you have shared your location and for whom notifications have been activated will automatically receive a notification.