Google Maps’ main feature remains navigation and directions, but nobody would blame you if you were using it increasingly more to discover places around you. It’s very easy to do and a tool that can come in handy when traveling to a new city or on vacation. I might be an iPhone user, but I go to Google Maps when traveling to search for certain places and inspect the neighborhood.
Google is looking to improve how Google Maps lets you find new places. The company announced new features that should make travelling this summer easier than before. Artificial intelligence (AI) powers some of them, as expected. And Google announced a design update is coming soon.
The design detail might be the most important for some Google Maps fans, especially those who didn’t like the big color palette change last year. Don’t get too excited about Google Maps getting back its old colors. That’s unlikely to happen.
But Google said right at the end of a blog post detailing the new features that a design update is coming.
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The “fresh new look” for the summer includes a “cleaner home screen with fewer tabs and new pin colors that make it easier to find places on the map.” This should help with the discovery features that are the main object of this announcement.
All the lists
Google Maps will now show you curated lists of recommendations for your destinations. These come from “top sites” and the Google Maps community, and they’ll be available in more than 40 cities in the US and Canada this week.
An example of Google Maps showing lists of interesting places in Los Angeles. Image source: Google
Google Maps might show you lists of expert-curated restaurants from The Infatuation or Lonely Planet’s guides to exciting places to see. The lists feature will support The New York Times’s 36 Hours itineraries and OpenTable’s restaurant guides.
Google will offer you three types of lists in Google Maps, complete with their own emoji icons:
The 🔥Trending list is updated weekly with places that have recently seen a spike in popularity on Maps. It’s ideal for helping you discover the latest hot spots.
The 🏆 Top list is home to places the Maps community has consistently loved. Come here to find an area’s tried and true, longstanding favorites.
The 💎 Gems list is for places that might be a neighborhood’s best kept secret. It’s home to great restaurants that still fly under the radar.
If you’re into creating Google Maps travel lists, you’ll be able to submit them to Google later this year.
Google Maps lets you create and sort your own lists. Image source: Google
Whether you want to share lists with others or not, Google wants to make creating lists easier in Google Maps. The feature can come in handy if you’re planning a vacation and have itineraries in mind for the places you’re about to visit. You can create lists from the Saved tab, where you’ll find a “New list” button.
Finally, Google is putting AI to work inside Google Maps to “key insights from the Maps community.” The AI will give you photos and review summaries when you pull up a place in the app.
The AI in Google Maps can offer you more details about places, like food information for restaurants. Image source: Google
Furthermore, it’ll tell you what a food item is called when looking at food images in a new city. You’ll get other useful information, like ingredients and what it costs. This is certainly a feature that will come in handy when making reservations to places you discover while traveling.
Google SGE can help you plan your vacation
In a separate blog post that also focuses on summer travel, Google announced another handy new feature that uses AI for travel purposes. You can go to Google Search SGE and input prompts like “plan me a 3 day trip to Philadelphia that’s all about history.” The AI will generate a list of suggestions that will include flight and hotel options in addition to local attractions and restaurant ideas.
Google Search SGE will help you plan your next vacation. Image source: Google
That’s another great feature to have on hand when planning a vacation, and it would work even better right into Google Maps. It also sounds similar to what the Rabbit r1 should be able to do. The difference is that the latter will actually book everything for you if you give it access to the right apps.
Travel trending lists and new AI features
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