Google foreshadows its future concept of immersive view with the ability to fly over certain known places. The editor also adds a new option for location sharing and improves routes for cyclists.
Google has just announced three new features for its Maps application. The first is the arrival of photorealistic aerial views that allow you to fly over some well-known places, as shown in the demonstration below with, among others, the Empire State Building, Alcatraz prison and Big Ben.
These views will cover around 100 locations and will be available for cities such as Barcelona, London, New York, San Francisco and Tokyo. They foreshadow the concept of immersive view that Google presented at the last I/O conference in May. This concept combines satellite images and Street View shots to put you right in the center of the places you want to explore. It allows you to have an exact overview, regardless of the time of day, the current weather, traffic or the hustle and bustle on the street. The immersive view will also allow you to explore the interior of certain buildings. The concept should be implemented later this year and initially concern the cities of Los Angeles, London, New York, San Francisco and Tokyo.
Know when your friends arrive and depart from a location
Google adds a new option in the location sharing feature. You can, if you wish, receive notifications when people who have shared their location arrive or depart from a specific location.
In the demonstration above, the smartphone user is alerted when Danielle Holmes arrives at the Tennessee Valley Trailhead. He can specify to receive a notification when the person arrives, but also when he leaves. This is notified of the activation of the option and may or may not allow its use.
Finally, Google will improve routes for cyclists with more details, for example the presence of stairs or steep hills, and allow better comparison of routes.
This function will be offered in around 100 cities with information for cyclists.
Aerial views and notifications when sharing location are currently rolling out to Google Maps for Android and for iOS. The new function for cyclists will be launched in the coming weeks.
Source :
Google