Do you ever wish your phone would just tell you where to find a parking spot? Or where you could charge your phone quickly? Google announced this week that the newest update to its navigation app should be able to help you.
“By bringing together the world’s freshest map with our most capable Gemini models, we’re transforming exploration into a simple conversation and making driving more intuitive than ever with our biggest navigation upgrade in over a decade,” the company said in a Thursday blog post. Gemini is its artificial intelligence program.
This new navigation upgrade includes the Ask Maps feature. Google describes it as “a new conversational experience that answers complex, real-world questions a map could never answer before.”
According to Google, Ask Maps allows users to ask questions like: “My phone is dying – where can I charge it without having to wait in a long line for coffee?”
Typically, finding out something like that would take some research, like ducking in to a few coffee places as your battery life drains lower. To provide quick answers, Google taps in to user reviews and tips. Ask Google will also respond to questions conversationally and provide a customized map to help visualize options.
It can also help build trips. For example, Google said Ask Maps can offer recommendations for stops on road trips, based on “insider tips from real people, like how to find a hidden hiking trail or get a free entry ticket,” and information from over 300 million places and more than 500 million contributors.
Results will be personalized based on places users have previously searched for or saved. Ask Maps will also offer options to make reservations and share destination info with others.
ABC News correspondent Becky Worley tested out the developments firsthand to show how the new Maps experience feels when Google gave “Good Morning America” an exclusive first look at the new navigation model. Per the outlet, Worley searched for iconic spots in San Francisco and Maps pulled up tailored results with photos, ratings and options to see whether a restaurant offered meals to-go.
As far as the actual navigating is concerned, Google said that the new maps update is the biggest in over a decade in part because of the “Immersive Navigation” experience. Redesigned visuals and “more intuitive guidance,” are part of the update, said the company.
“Now, your map comes to life with a vivid 3D view that reflects the buildings, overpasses, and terrain around you,” said Google. “When it’s helpful, Maps will highlight critical road details like lanes, crosswalks, traffic lights, and stop signs to help you make that turn or merge confidently. This spatial understanding of your route is made possible with help from Gemini models, which analyze fresh, real world imagery from Street View and aerial photos to give you an accurate view of things along your route, like landmarks and medians.”
There’s also a new, broader view of the route and transparent buildings help look past tricky turns. Voice guidance should also sound more natural, “like a friend navigating with you,” but with 5 million updates to world traffic incorporated every second.
“Maps will also inform you about tradeoffs for alternate routes, like a longer trip with less traffic or a faster one with a toll,” Google explained. “We’ll also alert you to real-time disruptions along your route, like road construction and crashes – powered by our community of drivers, who provide more than 10 million of these contributions every single day.”
Once you reach your destination, Maps can also help find parking, hopefully cutting down on the endless loop around the block past the restaurant where you are supposed to meet your friends.
Immersive Navigation started rolling out across the U.S. Thursday and availability is expected to expand over the coming months to eligible iOS and Android devices, as well as CarPlay, Android Auto and cars with Google built-in. Ask Maps also started rolling out Thursday in the U.S.
and India on Android and iOS, and a desktop version is expected to launch soon.