Google is gearing up to roll out some great new features to its Android and iOS versions of Maps in the coming days. More and more immersion and help in finding excursion ideas and, above all, in getting there peacefully.

During the Google I/O developer conference last May, the American giant presented its current development projects on Google Maps, its online mapping tool available through its apps for Android and iOS. Google is preparing today to release the results of its work in the coming weeks. The program includes even more immersion with Immersive View, but also other functions that allow you to expand the search options in Maps using images. GPS navigation is also being updated to make route tracking easier while providing valuable information to electric vehicle owners. And the good news: Most of these advances don’t just benefit the United States. The French version of Google Maps will actually benefit from this. A quick overview of the most important new features.

Google Maps: 3D routes with immersive view

Last April, Google introduced Immersive View. This new way of discovering certain emblematic places of a city made it possible to fly over the buildings recreated in 3D in amazing quality, obtaining real-time information about the current weather and even varying the times of day to enjoy the atmosphere. Since then, Google has refined the concept. Immersive View is now extending its principle to travel routes. This feature is initially available for Amsterdam, Barcelona, ​​​​Dublin, Florence, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Paris, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Tokyo and Venice and allows you to have a Immersive preview view to set view of the journey from one point to another in the city. Weather information and variations in daylight depending on time of day and (simulated) traffic conditions are also available. To achieve this result, when developing Street View, Google relied on billions of images, the subjective view offered in Google Maps and, of course, artificial intelligence.

Google Maps: a few pinches of Google Lens in Google Maps

Augmented Reality is already present in Google Maps with Live View. Using the smartphone camera, for example, it is possible to orientate yourself more easily to follow a route defined in Maps by displaying virtual elements on the screen that indicate the direction to take. This time Google is pushing the concept a little further. By pressing the lens icon of Google Maps it is possible to also view information about different locations. You can easily find an ATM, find out the opening times of the restaurants you pass by simply pointing your smartphone at the front door, or even locate nearby subway or bus stops. Lens in Maps is already available for Paris and will be available in the coming days for more than fifty new cities around the world, including Austin, Las Vegas, São Paulo, Rome and Taipei.

Google Maps: From the image to the map with one click

Another surprising new feature is the ability to find a location using an image. Now, if you do a specific search in Google Maps, for example “Café Latte”, you will be offered an image gallery. If you select one of these, Google Maps will show you where you can find the corresponding or similar product and of course also show you the route to get there. The photos come from Google’s huge database, which is provided, among other things, by Internet users who leave reviews about the places they visit. The principle also applies to places for which the app also provides images. The feature is just now rolling out in France, but also in Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Other countries will follow in the coming months.

Google Maps: more directions for drivers

Google made this clear to us when it presented the new features of Google Maps: “ Waze(Google’s GPS guidance app – Editor’s note) won’t disappear. The strong community continues to work to provide the best driving routes and Google Maps is not intended to replace them. “. But that doesn’t stop the maps app from offering some interesting new features for drivers. Maps with 3D models of cities will be released in the coming months for a dozen countries, including the United States, Canada, France and Germany B. Buildings to make orientation easier when driving. On motorways, lane change indicators are displayed in more detail to enable better anticipation.

Electric vehicle owners are not forgotten. Starting this week, the Google Maps app will show available charging stations nearby and their compatibility with the vehicle. Estimated loading times and the status of the terminal (active or defective) are also provided. This function is used worldwide… wherever the information can be accessed on Google devices.