One of the key announcements from Google at the Google I/O this year is the maps. Redesigned from the ground up, it has a lot of features to get excited about. We at Techzei have done a hands on in-depth review of all that has changed and all the new features of the new Google Maps.
The first thing which is definitely striking is that you notice with the new Google Maps is more of Maps and the details come when you need them. Here is the comparison of the new Google maps with the old one when you see it for the first time.
New Features
The Look
Like previously said, the look and the feel of Google Maps has been changed from ground up. There is a floating search bar to the left and all the information when needed comes below the search bar. Also, a lot of the icons have been changed. A simple search of restaurants shows me all the restaurants in the maps on the screen with little red coloured icons.
Info Cards
Clicking on a business brings up the info card right below the floating search bar. It gives all sorts of details on the business like address, phone number, website URL,its hours of operation, its ratings and a link for navigation. There’s also a street view icon. Google has paired up with Zaggat for professional reviews of the restaurants.
Better Directions
When asking for directions, it not only shows you the best route but also the alternate routes at the same time on the map. The route in blue color is the best route chosen by Google and the ones in Grey are the alternate routes.
Also, when a bus stop or a train station is clicked, it shows all the transit info.
The Visuals
The visuals is one of the main parts of the new Google Maps. It has some impressive new features.
It has the 3D sky diving which has been there for quite some time but it is more interactive now.
It also adds indoor photographs to the maps. We can also view the panoramic and photo spheres shared publicly on the New Google Maps.
You can keep zooming out to view the whole earth. You can view the clouds. But what gets impressive here is that the clouds are real time!
What Google has done with the New Google Maps is definitely awesome. Some functionality is said to make it’s way to the iOS and Android apps.
Happy Mapping!
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