Satellite connectivity still hasn’t really made its debut on Android yet, but it’s clear Google is making an effort with it on Pixel phones and, apparently, also in Google Maps.
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Google Maps reviews are a valuable resource, but the service is losing the ability to store drafts of a review in progress.
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Ahead of Earth Day, Google Maps is adding a handful of features to make traveling more sustainable, like offering transit and walking alternatives instead of driving.
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The latest Google Maps update for Android makes a minor tweak which allows the phone’s toggle for 3D buildings during navigation to sync with the setting on Android Auto.
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Following Chrome last year and Photos a few months ago on Android 14, Google Maps is the latest first-party app to drop its custom share sheet and switch to the native version.
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For some users, a bug on Android Auto is causing all voice commands for navigation to be routed through Google Maps, regardless of the user’s preferences.
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Google Maps is perhaps one of the most widely used applications on the planet and, as such, even minor changes to its design are super important. But, on Apple’s CarPlay, Google Maps is in need of a massive overhaul, because it’s a bit of a dumpster fire.
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The work to make Gemini a better phone assistant continues, with Google recently updating it to automatically start Maps navigation “when you ask for directions.”
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In addition to a trio of announcements around lists ahead of the summer travel season, Google Maps will be simplifying its bottom bar on mobile.Â
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Besides search, reviews, and photos, Google Maps wants to help you find places to visit using lists from its community and third-parties.
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Google has brought Street View on Maps to Kazakhstan in its latest expansion.
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Following the announcement in late February at MWC 2024 and the March Pixel Feature Drop, Google Maps for Wear OS is more widely rolling out public transit directions.
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Android Auto is getting a tweak for Google Maps that shows the estimated drive time in the same bolder style as other platforms.
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Setting default apps is commonplace on Android, but over on iOS, Apple has historically made this difficult. Over time, users have been given the ability to set default browser apps and make other tweaks, but starting next year, Apple will apparently allow iPhone users to set their default navigation app as something other than Apple Maps, like Google Maps.
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Besides using Live View and your camera for VPS, Google has a new device orientation solution for Android map developers with the Fused Orientation Provider (FOP) API in Play services.
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Google Maps is invaluable in finding your way to a location, but a sore point of the app has long been finding where to actually enter the building. Now, though, Google Maps seems to be showing entrances for buildings to some users.
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Google announced “glanceable directions” for Maps on Android and iOS last February, and a new setting called “Glanceable directions while navigating” is now available.
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At Mobile World Congress 2024, Google announced a handful of wearable and navigation-related updates, starting with public transit directions in Google Maps for Wear OS.
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Using a navigation app when out on the road is what just about everyone does nowadays, but these apps are useful for more than just getting directions from point A to point B. Google Maps has supported incident reporting for quite some time, but as we keep moving forward, the feature is becoming essentially useless due to neglect.
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The Google Maps UI has largely been unchanged for the past several years, but that’s now changing with pretty significant redesigns across key surfaces, including when searching for directions.
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Like the iOS app, Google Maps for Android now overlays the weather and AQI when you’re browsing the map layer.
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Earlier this year Google Maps on Android Auto started showing buildings in 3D while driving. Now, that functionality is rolling out more widely, and we’ve got a few more details on it as well.
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Earlier this month, Google announced it was deprecating a slew of Assistant features. One of those removals was the “App Launcher” in Assistant Driving Mode, which most people assumed was the entire experience. Google tells us that is not the case, and here’s what will be left of Assistant Driving Mode after February 7.
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Generative AI is coming to Google Maps and will let you find places in a conversational manner.
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