minsta

Google Maps just got a huge upgrade with Gemini AI – here are all the new features

Pabio October 31, 2024

PALO ALTO, Calif. — The next time you hit the road with Google Maps turned on on your phone, GoogleIt is Gemini AI Model could be on a shotgun. Google’s popular navigation app is incorporating new features that leverage AI to not only help you know where you’re going, but also to find things worth discovering in the first place.

Gemini’s biggest addition to Google Maps is currently rolling out to the Android and iOS versions of the mapping app. This will help you generate ideas about where you can go, even produce review summaries and answer follow-up questions about where you’re going.

@tomsguide
♬ original sound – Tom’s Guide

But that’s not the only change to Google Maps, which also brings more detailed views of your route, easier ways to find stops along the way, and alerts about driving hazards triggered by weather conditions. There’s also a new feature aimed at helping you find parking spaces and additional guidance to your actual destination once you’ve parked your car.

Here’s a look at what’s coming to Google Maps and when you can expect it.

Google Maps: Gemini is with you

Suggestions generated by Gemini in Google Maps

(Image credit: Google)

Google Maps is no stranger to AI, which analyzes images and data about businesses and locations to keep Google’s map up to date, to the tune of 100 million updates every day. “In the time it takes me to say this sentence, we’ve done 10,000 updates to Maps,” said Chris Phillips, vice president and general manager of Google’s Geo portfolio which includes products like Maps, Waze and Google Earth.

But the inclusion of Gemini in Google Maps will be more direct to end users. You’ll be able to turn to the AI model for suggestions about what’s happening in the area you’re researching. Or as Miriam Daniels, vice president and general manager of Google Maps, puts it, you can’t just ask Google “what’s near me?” more — with Gemini, the question becomes “what can I do?”

The example Daniels gave during a press event announcing new additions to Google Maps involved a friend stopping unexpectedly following an unscheduled layover. To find out how to spend this evening outside, Daniels entered a query into Maps asking “things I can do with a friend at night in Boston.” Suggestions produced by Gemini and marked with a “curated by Google” flag included speakeasies and live music, with information listed for each recommended venue, club or bar.

Google Maps reviews summarized by Gemini

(Image credit: Google)

Tap one of the Gemini suggestions and you can read a summary of verified user reviews posted to Google Maps and gathered by the AI model. Further down the page, you can ask Gemini follow-up questions, such as if the venue is loud or if there’s a full bar. Gemini offers a response, based on information collected by Google Maps, as well as comments from these reviews.

This new Google Maps feature expands the app’s toolset beyond what people typically turn to Maps for, so expect some sort of prompt letting you know that you can now search for more than simple directions from point A to point B. If Google succeeds in using its AI model to offer suggestions that people can act on, it would make the app even more valuable than before.

Get answers to questions about a Gemini location in Google Maps

(Image credit: Google)

Google says the Gemini integration begins rolling out this week to the iOS and Android versions of Google Maps in the United States. The company added that there is no time frame on when other countries should get this update, but it looks like it’s about to happen. once Google has the opportunity to refine the feature based on its usage by US-based users.

Other Google Maps Improvements

Gemini integration into Google Maps plus other changes to immersive maps

Google’s Miriam Daniels outlines upcoming changes to Google Maps (Image credit: Future)

Other changes in Google Maps focus more specifically on navigation, including an easier way to add stops to your route. When you get a route in Google Maps and tap Add Stops, Google Maps will automatically produce a list of points of interest including landmarks, restaurants, and attractions that you can then insert into your route. This is a feature aimed at not only improving the discovery of new sites in the app, but also simplifying the ability to add stops along the way.

Improved navigation enhancements add more information to the map screen, designed to make it easier to find your way in unfamiliar places. Rich details like crosswalks and road signs now appear on the map itself, and the blue line guiding your path will specifically indicate which lane you need to be in to turn, merge, or exit.

New features in Google Maps include richer details on the map itself, the ability to report weather incidents, and tips once you park your car.

(Image credit: Google)

An earlier improvement to Google Maps, which allowed drivers to report traffic and other incidents on their route, now extends to weather issues, thinking about flooded roads, areas of low visibility due to fog and, he approach of winter in the United States, with roads not plowed.

One final navigation improvement appears to take over when you’ve arrived at your destination, not only signaling parking in the immediate area, but providing walking directions from where you parked to the destination itself- even. In Street View, the building or location you’re heading towards will even be highlighted, and Google Maps will now remind you to save your parking location before you leave.

The ability to explore stops along your route, the weather report feature, and parking and arrival tips are all coming to Google Maps this week. The improved navigation changes will first appear in 30 metropolitan areas across the United States starting next month, with plans to expand the functionality.

Google Maps Immersive View Featurelaunched last year to provide a 3D view of your route using both AI and computer vision, is also due for an update. As you may recall, Immersive View not only offers a more realistic view of where you’re heading, but can also display expected weather conditions and traffic patterns by adjusting the time you’re heading find in a place.

Google plans to expand Immersive View to 150 additional cities starting this week. It also gets navigation details, like flagging difficult turns and telling you where to park. These changes will also roll out to Android and iOS this week.

With AI, we can give you what you need to know before you go,” Phillips said.

Waze updates and other Google Maps news

Google’s Waze app joins Google Maps by adding new features. You will now be able to report traffic and road hazards with your voice. Best of all, Waze will recognize natural speech when you report an incident. You can say “It’s bumper on Interstate 880” and the app will know you’re talking about traffic at your specific location. If the app needs more information, it will ask follow-up questions.

The Android and iOS versions of Waze benefit from this new English conversational reporting feature, starting this week. The feature is expected to expand to other languages and users in the coming months. Meanwhile, in an update to Waze later this year, the app will now show school zones along your route.

Developers have tools linked to Google’s mapping products and AI. In Google Earth, urban planners will have access to Gemini, which should speed up data analysis involving the mapping tool. App creators will be able to leverage the rich geographic data of the Google Maps platform to add generative AI capabilities to their apps.

Le-verdict

Le-verdict

Google Maps just got a huge upgrade with Gemini AI – here are all the new features

LEAVE A RESPONSE Cancel reply

Pabio

Latin Superstar Bad Bunny Supports Harris for President After Comedian’s Racist Jokes at Trump Event

What luck! Greenfield Metro Market sold $100,000 in Powerball tickets

Toronto Maple Leafs fans share their displeasure over jersey raffle

DHS Cybersecurity Security Review Board to Review Salt Typhoon Attack

Google Maps just got a huge upgrade with Gemini AI – here are all the new features

LEAVE A RESPONSE Cancel reply

Pabio

You Might Also Like

Latin Superstar Bad Bunny Supports Harris for President After Comedian’s Racist Jokes at Trump Event

What luck! Greenfield Metro Market sold $100,000 in Powerball tickets

Toronto Maple Leafs fans share their displeasure over jersey raffle

DHS Cybersecurity Security Review Board to Review Salt Typhoon Attack