Google Maps has update with a new feature call as Immersive View in five cities, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Tokyo. As Google expects to roll the feature out to more cities, including Amsterdam, Dublin, Florence and Venice, in the future.
It is intend to help you plan ahead of time and gain a better understanding of a city before visiting it.
This feature combines billions of Street Views and aerial images to generate a virtual world model.
Google also overlays data on top of the digital model, such as weather, traffic, and also how busy a location is, as per Google.
In a blog post, Google said that the immersive mode for Google Maps uses advance artificial intelligence (AI) elements and computer vision to build a digital view of the world.
Google shares an example of a visit to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, stating that users can “virtually soar over the building” which identifies where the entrances are.
They can also look at the weather and visuals of the venue including crowds, using a time slider.
This feature also displays nearby restaurants including a look at the interiors, just like Google Maps’ regular Street View feature.
Google says it uses neural radiance fields (NeRF), an advance AI technique that converts ordinary images into 3D representations, to create these realistic scenes.
Google Maps can therefore “accurately recreate the full context of a place” using NeRF with its lighting, material texture, and what’s in the background.
Google Pixel Watch Receiving February 2023 Wear OS 3.5 Update: How to Download
— 2YoDoINDIA News Network (@2yodoindia) February 7, 2023
for more news visit https://t.co/98KV4yIZka#2YoDoINDIA #GooglePixelWatch #WearOS #Google pic.twitter.com/Dk9eZMTYi9
All of this allows users to determine whether a bar’s moody lighting is appropriate for a date night or whether the views at a cafe make it ideal for lunch with friends.
Google’s post also talks about “Search with Live View” which uses AI and augment reality to help locate useful things around users such as ATMs, restaurants, parks, restrooms, lounges, taxi stands, car rentals and transit stations.
As per Google, you can lift their phone to see helpful information about places such as operational timings, how crowded is, and user ratings for the venue.
Live View was launch in London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, San Francisco and Tokyo. Google says the feature will be expand to over 1,000 new airports, train stations, and malls in many cities Barcelona, Berlin, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Melbourne, Paris, Prague, São Paulo, Singapore, Sydney, and Taipei in the coming months.
Electric vehicles that have Android Auto built-in will also receive some helpful updates.
Maps will recommend the best charging stop based on factors such as current traffic, your charge level, and expected energy consumption on any trip that will require a charging stop.
The ‘very fast‘ charging filter will assist you in quickly locating stations with chargers of 150 kilowatts or higher.
This can provide enough power for many cars to fill up and return to the road in less than 40 minutes.
Maps will also show you charging stations in search results when places like a supermarket have them.
Google said it will also introduce glanceable directions to Maps.
You can track their trip with glanceable directions right from the route overview or lock screen.
This feature will show update ETAs and directions to the next turn, which were previously only visible by unlocking your phone, opening the app, and using detail navigation mode.
If the user changes the route, Maps will automatically update the itinerary.
In the coming months, these glanceable directions will be available globally on Android and iOS, and they will also be compatible with Live Activities on iOS 16.1.
