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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As we previously spotted and Google later confirmed in a series of deprecations, the Assistant Driving Mode for Google Maps is going away later this month.
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As someone that always browses restaurant listings before committing, Google Maps is now mapping and naming user-generated food pics to the actual menu items.
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One of Google’s biggest augmented reality investments is Live View. Google Maps is elevating the AR navigation and discovery capability with Google Lens branding.
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GPS makes it possible to navigate the globe with relative ease, but tunnels have long been a sore spot for apps like Google Maps. But, widely available now, Google Maps now supports Bluetooth beacons to fill in the gap left by tunnels.
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Google Maps has supported showing buildings in 3D for quite a while, but now the app is testing out the ability to show those 3D buildings while in navigation on the mobile app as well as on Android Auto.
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In 2022, Google announced it was killing the Assistant Driving Mode that provided a “Dashboard” homescreen. This left another optimized UI in Google Maps for Android, which was also called “Driving Mode,” but that’s now also facing deprecation in February 2024.
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Google is making a big change to how it stores Location History data on Android and iOS. Instead of that data being stored in the cloud, Google will be locally saving Location History to your device with end-to-end encrypted cloud backups for “Your Timeline” in Maps also offered.
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Google Maps for Android Auto is picking up a useful new trick with the ability to save your parking location when you arrive at your destination.
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Over the past couple of weeks, Google Maps has widely rolled out a new color palette across its various apps, and the reactions have so far been mixed. So, now that everyone has it, what do you think of the new colors in Google Maps?
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Google has announced a slew of new features for Maps in recent weeks, including Immersive View for routes, more detailed navigation, and transit filters. Google Maps is now rolling out a new color palette.
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Google Maps is widely rolling out a revamped color palette and, now, that’s also showing up on Android Auto too.
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Ahead of the holiday season, Google Maps is adding shared lists that let people vote on places, as well as filters for transit directions.
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New tweaks to the UI design of Android Auto come pretty frequently, with Google Maps now getting another facelift to the navigation screen.
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Android Auto users who drive electric vehicles (EV) are getting a useful new app, as “Fastned” is launching on the platform with Google Maps and Waze integration.
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Announced at I/O, Google Maps is now rolling out “Immersive View for routes” and a number of other search and navigation features.
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As a result of the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza, Google Maps and Waze seem to have shut down traffic alerts and data as a safety precaution.
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Google is rolling out a number of new accessibility features, including the ability to use Action Blocks as Assistant Routine shortcuts on your Android homescreen.
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