Google Maps wants businesses to add coronavirus information
With the coronavirus expected to cause disruption to businesses such as stores and restaurants, Google wants to ensure its Maps listings are kept up to date.
How Earth rates, according to Google Maps location reviews
People leave reviews on Google Maps for all sorts of things, including natural landmarks. Seas, mountain ranges, and other phenomena wow and underwhelm many reviewers.
How Google Maps put turn-by-turn navigation in your pocket
In the history of Google Maps, one moment changed history in a dramatic way, causing established entities to rethink and adapt to new changes brought forth by one specific feature.
Digital Trends Live: Google Maps update, Apple Watch sales, and more
On this episode of Digital Trends Live, we discuss the biggest stories in tech, including a major update to Google Maps, neural network 4K upscaling, and more.
Google celebrates 15 years of Maps with new features and redesigned logo
Google Maps has become the go-to Mapping service for most, and the service is now 15 years old. To celebrate, the company has a number of new features for the service, including more detailed information on public transport. Further, Maps now has a new logo.
How a guy used 99 phones in a cart to create traffic jams on Google Maps
A Berlin-based artist with a mischievous streak recently fired up Google Maps on 99 smartphones and carted them around the streets of the city. The result? Google Maps processed the data and, concluding that the streets must be gridlocked, redirected nearby drivers to other roads in the area.
Huawei taps TomTom to help it navigate to a Google Maps alternative
After being cut off from Google by the U.S. government in response to apparent security concerns regarding Chinese tech firms, Huawei has been looking for ways to build alternative services now that it can no longer use Google apps on its new phones. For starters, it’s inked a deal with TomTom to replace Google Maps.
Google reveals how many miles its Street View cars have driven to date
Google's Street View cars have been tootling along roads around the world for more than a decade, with the company recently revealing the colossal number of miles they've covered so far. And incredibly, the panoramic-photo service still has much ground to cover.
Google Maps working on feature that shows well-lit streets?
Code spotted in a Google Maps beta revealed a new feature named the Lighting Layer, which will show the streets that have good lighting. No screenshots of the feature were available, and it is unclear when and where it will roll out, but it will soon provide the app with an additional tool for travelers.
Google Maps puts Local Guides front and center for top travel tips
Google Maps is giving more prominence to its top Local Guides in a test designed to give travelers easier access to their suggestions for things to do and places to go. The pilot, which places the Guides in Maps' personalized For You section, begins in nine cities that include New York, San Francisco, and London.
Google is bringing some Translate features into Google Maps
Google is bringing Google Maps and Google Translate a little closer together by adding part of Translate to Google Maps. You can tap on a button within Google Maps to have the name of your destination and the address read out in the local language. It will be available to users over the next month in over 50 languages.
Google Maps’ Incognito mode finally goes live for Android users
Six months after discussing the privacy feature at its Google I/O conference, the company is finally rolling out Incognito mode for Google Maps on Android. It can be turned on in a few taps, but keep in mind that when it’s on, you’ll lose access to things like Offline Maps and Your Places.
Google Maps now lets iPhone-owning drivers help their fellow road users
It has been available for Google Maps on Android for some time but now drivers with an iPhone can also report crashes, speed traps, and traffic slowdowns when they're on the road. And from this week, users on both platforms can also report construction, lane closures, disabled vehicles, and objects in the road.
Google Maps expands voice guidance for blind and partially sighted users
Google Maps has introduced a new feature for blind or partially sighted people. Maps will now offer more detailed voice guidance and verbal announcements to make navigating with limited vision easier and safer, such as warning users when they are approaching large intersections.
The best Google Easter eggs
Google has a tendency to play pranks come April, but the tech giant is known for more than a few holiday-centric gags. The search engine is lined with an assortment of tools, inside jokes, and the like, many of which are accessible with a simple query. Here are a few you should know.
Psst! Google Maps’ privacy-focused Incognito Mode is nearly here
Desperate to cover your tracks in Google Maps? Keen to keep some of your trips secret? Well, Google Maps' Incognito Mode is currently being tested with select users, so it shouldn’t be too long before you can start using it. Enabling the feature prevents Maps’ location data from being saved to your Google account.
Google Maps adds tools to help people recover from drug, alcohol addiction
Google Maps, as part of National Recovery Month, added two new features that will support people on the path to recovery from drug or alcohol addiction. The first tool marks more than 83,000 recovery support meetings, while the second tool reveals nearby establishments where Naloxone may be obtained.
Gmail for Android finally gets a dark theme. Assistant and Maps likely to follow
With the release of Android 10 to the public, Google rolled out a systemwide dark theme, but a few apps were missing from the list of those that support the dark theme. Now, however, there's one more app to be added to that list -- Gmail now finally has support for dark theme.
You can now combine transit with ridesharing and biking in Google Maps
Google has announced a new feature for Google Maps that will allow users to combine transit directions with ridesharing and biking. The new Mixed Modes feature is rolling out to customers in 30 countries in the next few weeks, and more countries will be added in the near future.
How to navigate with the AR mode in Google Maps to find your way
Got turned around? Not sure which direction to head? Google Maps now has an augmented reality (AR) mode that lets you use your phone's camera to find which way to go. It was initially exclusive to Google's Pixel phones first, but it's now available on other Android phones -- even iPhones.
Google’s fun AR walking directions are ready for your Android phone and iPhone
The augmented reality walking directions feature in Google Maps is about to be made available on more devices. Google has announced its Live View AR walking mode will come to Android phones that support ARCore, and iPhone models that support ARKit this week. Here's what you need to know, and which phones support it.
Google Maps has just become a whole lot more useful for bikesharing fans
Google Maps now offers a lot more bikesharing information for riders in 24 cities globally. Starting this week, you can see the location of nearby bikesharing stations, as well as data on bike availability. The feature also lets you check ahead to confirm which nearby stations have an available space for parking.
Google Maps can now determine how crowded your bus or train will be
Your Google Maps app will now be able to predict how crowded your bus or train will be thanks to a recent update, Google announced Thursday. The crowdedness prediction is based off of ratings by other users and will now appear when you look up transit directions in Google Maps
A Google Maps detour trapped 100 drivers on a muddy one-lane road
You can't always trust your map app: faulty Google Maps directions led some Aurora, Colo. area drivers to a strange and muddy detour on Sunday. The app seemed to be trying to route them around a crash, but instead ended up causing a separate traffic jam.
Google Maps insists it’s doing what it can to weed out business scammers
Google Maps has a problem with bogus businesses populating its listings, with some unsuspecting users falling victim to scams. The company says it's doing everything it can to sort it out, while insisting that the fake entries comprise only a tiny percentage of the total number of businesses held on its database.
Google Maps may soon alert you if your taxi driver goes off-route
Google want to make taking a taxi a little safer. The company is adding a feature to Google Maps that will alert you if your taxi driver goes off-route by more than 500 meters. The feature is currently only available in India, but will hopefully roll out to other locations in the near future.
Google Maps will now warn you about disasters and tell you how fast you’re going
Google Maps expanded its SOS alerts to include notifications and visualized information regarding disasters, including hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods. For some users, the app has also added a speedometer, which complements the recently added speed cameras and speed limits feature.
Love eating out? Google Maps offers a new way to find a menu’s popular dishes
Finding the most popular dishes at a restaurant has never been easier thanks to a new Google Maps feature that uses A.I. to find the best nosh. It needs customer participation though, so carry on snapping — and uploading — all those food photos you take whenever you hit a new place.
Google Maps’ Waze-like speed-camera feature rolls into 40 more countries
Following a limited launch earlier this year, Google Maps has expanded a feature that shows drivers the location of speed cameras, as well as information on speed limits. Speed cameras are shown at their precise location on the road, with the app playing an audio warning as the driver approaches.
Hey Google, let’s order out: Food delivery comes to Search, Maps, and Assistant
It's easier than ever to get your favorite grub delivered to your door or order it for pickup as Google integrates online food ordering into Google Search and Google Maps. You can even ask Google Assistant to order your favorite dish without having to pick up your phone or touch your computer.
Google’s new Trips site aims to help with all of your travel planning
Google seeks to ease your travel planning with Trips, a new online site that lets you explore destinations, research airline flights, check out hotels and view current package deals. This is the beginning of Google's plans tighter integration between Google Search, Google Maps. and Trips for the future.
Google Maps will let you enter Incognito Mode, and it won’t store your data
Google announced a series of improved privacy features, allowing users to manage how long Google stores their data, and even added an Incognito Mode to Google Maps. When that particular feature is active, location information won't be stored to your Google account.
Google Maps adds a new tab showing restaurants’ most popular dishes
Google Maps is testing a new Popular tab to make it easier to order a tasty-looking restaurant dish that you've spotted on the app. Photos of meals on Google Maps don’t always show the dish name, but the new feature aims to change that by pulling together information from multiple entries.
Google Maps now shows EV owners which charging stations are occupied
Google just beefed up its Maps app with extra data to help EV owners find the nearest charging station. Drivers can also find out the number and types of ports available, and whether they're occupied, and get information about the business where the charging station is located. You can even leave a review!