Google has unveiled its biggest overhaul to Google Maps in years, bringing a slew of new features powered by its Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistant, Gemini. According to the Californian company, the incoming shake-up will be “fundamentally changing what a map can do”.
The arrival of Gemini means you’ll be able to speak to Google Maps in natural language. So, instead of dictating the destination as you’ve been able to do in Google Maps since the introduction of voice-activated searches in 2008, you’ll now be able to pose a problem to the navigation software.
For example, you could say “My phone is dying — where can I charge it without having to wait in a long line for coffee?” or “Is there a public tennis court with lights on that I can play at tonight?” Until now, this would’ve required sifting through dozens of listings and reviews, or searching on Google to find the right location.
Google Maps’ biggest update in ‘over a decade’ introduces two new features, Immersive Navigation and Ask Maps
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With the latest update, Gemini does all of the heavy lifting in the background.
The AI chatbot will personalise its responses based on what it already knows about you, based on places you’ve searched for or saved in Maps to help you get the most relevant recommendations. So when you ask, “My friends are meeting me close to the office. Any spots with a cozy aesthetic and a table for 4 at 7 tonight?” the feature will already know the type of cuisine or dietary requirements based on your history.
It doesn’t have to be a specific problem that Google Gemini is trying to help solve, either.
Tap on the Ask Maps button to get Gemini AI to plot out an itinerary for you, based on information from over 300 million places, including reviews from its community of more than 500 million contributors
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If you’re planning a trip and want some recommendations — based on the millions of blog posts, newspaper articles, reviews, YouTube videos, and other information absorbed by the Large-Language Model (LLM) — you can ask: “I’m headed to the Grand Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, and Coral Dunes — any recommended stops along the way?”
Google Maps will generate turn-by-turn directions, ETAs, and insider tips from real people, like how to find a hidden hiking trail or get a free entry ticket. To build your itinerary, Maps analyses information from over 300 million places, including reviews from its community of more than 500 million contributors.
When the free update rolls out to your device, you’ll see a new Ask Maps button.
Tap on this and ask for a fresh itinerary, a complex, real-world question about the nearby area, or a potential pitfall that you’d like the software to solve.
Google Maps will flag suggested alternatives as you’re driving, so you can make decisions in real-time
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In a blog post announcing the overhaul, Vice President of Google Maps, Miriam Daniel wrote: “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.”
When you’ve finalised your plan, Google Maps has launched a series of changes to the driving experience. Dubbed Immersive Navigation, the £2.74 trillion company describes it as “a complete transformation of the navigation experience, with redesigned visuals and more intuitive guidance.”
For the first time, Google Maps will come to life with a vivid 3D view that reflects the buildings, overpasses, and terrain around you. 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 analyses real-world imagery from Street View and aerial photos to give you an accurate view of things along your route, like landmarks.
By analysing real-world imagery from Street View alongside the latest aerial photos, Google Gemini is able to provide a much more accurate route for the turn-by-turn directions in Google Maps
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Smart zooms and transparent buildings help you look ahead to prepare you for tricky turns and lane changes well in advance. We’ve also updated voice guidance to be more natural, like a friend navigating with you.
If you’re getting off the highway in two exits, you’ll hear, “Go past this exit and take the next one for Illinois 43 South,” alongside helpful visuals that clearly highlight your next step.
Google Maps pulls over 5 million updates to traffic around the world into its systems every second. This data is used to inform you about the tradeoffs for alternate routes, like a longer trip with less traffic or a faster one with a toll. 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.
Ask Maps is rolling out across the United States and India on Android and iOS, with desktop coming soon. Meanwhile, Immersive Navigation is out now in the USA and expanding across a range of devices, including eligible iOS and Android devices, CarPlay, Android Auto and cars with Google built-in.
Unfortunately, there’s no word on when British road users will be able to take advantage of the new AI-powered tricks.