A
Andy Meek
Guest
- Google Maps has launched a new Facebook-style news feed within the app, incorporating recommendations and suggestions from Maps users.
- The feed builds on other tools Google has added to Maps this year that help people learn more about the places they want to go to, which they can then use Google Maps to help them actually navigate to.
- 2020 is the 15th anniversary of Google Maps.
One of the things I've been fascinated to watch over the past year or more, in a way that certainly pre-dates the coronavirus pandemic, is the extent to which Google has woken up to all the latent potential inside one of its least-sexy apps, but one which is almost as utilitarian and relied upon as the company's signature search app. I'm talking, of course, about Google Maps, which celebrated its 15th anniversary earlier this year by rolling out a slew of new updates to the app including more detailed info about your commute (well, back when we weren't all mostly stuck at home, although this is still useful for things like quick grocery runs even during the pandemic era), as well as "Explore." That's a new tab you can hit to learn more granular detail about any of the millions of places that are findable via the app, and then you can then use Maps to learn how to get there after learning more about where your place is and what's around it.
Once the coronavirus pandemic struck, Google Maps got even more useful still, thanks to things like the addition of a COVID-19 layer on top of the map. It means you can now use Maps to get a look at the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people for the area of the map you’re looking at, and you can also see a label that indicates whether the cases are trending up or down. And now, Google has just added yet another useful layer to Maps, to make finding something about the place you're trying to get to even easier.
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This new Google Maps feature may completely change how you use the app originally appeared on BGR.com on Wed, 2 Dec 2020 at 18:43:07 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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