Google Maps AI feature upgrade, is Apple Maps ready?

Google Maps has become smarter!

On Thursday, October 31, Eastern Time, Google added new features to its mapping software Google Maps and navigation software Waze. Map users can now ask questions like chatting, such as "What are some good restaurants nearby?" Then, Google Maps will use AI to summarize everyone's reviews for the user. Users of the Waze app can encounter traffic issues while driving, such as congestion or accidents, without needing to stop to type or input special commands.

Map services are becoming increasingly advanced; they not only tell you how to get from one place to another but also help you better understand and enhance the world around you.

Seek inspiration curated by Gemini from the map

Google stated that when you need to entertain visiting friends and look for activities, simply ask Google Maps "What can I do with friends tonight?" to receive activity suggestions curated by Gemini, such as visiting a speakeasy or enjoying live music. If you want to know what people think about a certain place, you can read the summary of reviews compiled by Gemini, which is especially useful when time is tight. If you see a place that interests you and want to know more details, such as whether there is outdoor seating or if the environment is quiet, just ask Google Maps, and you will get an immediate answer.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai stated on social media platform X that Google Maps has 2 billion monthly users. Now you can ask the map more complex questions. All these new features benefit from Gemini's powerful capabilities in creation, reasoning, and summarization, based on our reliable data on approximately 250 million locations worldwide and insights from the mapping community.

Additionally, Google Maps has launched the "Immersive View" feature, allowing you to experience the map in an immersive way. For example, if you want to go to a park, you can see what the park looks like on the map before you go, and even check the weather and traffic conditions for the day you plan to visit. Google is also adding more locations, such as university campuses, so you can take a virtual campus tour. Moreover, this feature will tell you where to park and give you advance warnings about complex turns. This feature will start updating this week.

Google Maps has also undergone a significant update to make it easier for users to plan their trips while driving. As long as users search for their destination on the map, they can see famous landmarks, attractions, scenic spots, and restaurants along the way, helping them better plan their journey. At complex intersections or multi-lane sections, navigation will clearly display lanes, crosswalks, and road signs on the map, helping you know in advance how to proceed. With winter approaching, users can see real-time weather information, such as flooded roads, snow accumulation, or low visibility, to prepare in advance

Reporting Road Accidents in Natural Language

One of the biggest highlights of Waze is its powerful real-time traffic information update feature. It utilizes GPS information from mobile devices and user-uploaded shares, allowing users to report traffic conditions, accidents, road closures, police locations, and other road information at any time. This data is instantly transmitted to all other users, helping everyone avoid congested areas in real-time and choose the best driving routes.

The Waze app has added a new feature called "Conversational Reporting." This feature makes it safer and easier to report road conditions while driving. If you are driving on the highway and notice that traffic ahead has suddenly slowed down, you just need to press the report button and then speak naturally, as if you were chatting with a friend: "It looks like there's a traffic jam ahead!"

Waze will use Gemini's technology to understand what you are saying and quickly help you add a real-time report on the map without needing specific voice commands or pressing other buttons. For example, if you see a trash can on the road, Waze can help categorize this report, letting other drivers know to avoid this hazard. This way, community members on Waze can share real-time road condition information, allowing everyone to better plan their journeys.

Tech Companies Compete to Bet on Mapping Services

Although Google Maps is very popular, Google cannot afford to stand still, primarily because Silicon Valley companies are competing to create digital assistants that can guide users in their daily lives, with mapping services becoming a key part of this competition.

Tech industry analyst Bob O'Donnell points out that it is noteworthy that future mapping services may become smarter and more closely integrated with generative AI agents. Typically, requests people make with maps, such as "take me to a place for dinner," are actually part of more complex needs.

Other companies are also trying to make mapping services more advanced. For example, gaming company Niantic (the developer of Pokémon GO) launched a new app in August that allows users to create 3D models of real-world objects and share these images with others, forming a collaborative map. This means that people can not only view the map but also add their creations, making the map more vibrant and interactive.

AI expert Fei-Fei Li launched a new company called World Labs in September, aiming to develop software that can use images and other data to understand the three-dimensional world. Fei-Fei Li stated that spatial data has the potential to "change the direction of AI development."

Additionally, tech giants like Apple are also catching up. Apple's mapping service (Apple Maps) faced some issues when it launched in 2012, but it has made significant progress and can now compete with Google Maps in some key markets.

In recent years, Apple Maps has been working hard to improve its navigation interface. For instance, in 2021, it began displaying 3D maps and multi-lane information for some cities, while Google Maps only introduced similar features on Thursday. However, Apple Maps has been relatively conservative in allowing users to share information, even not allowing users to rate places they have visited Despite facing competition, the scale of Google Maps remains difficult to match. Google stated that by using AI to analyze billions of images, along with data from local partners and communities, we are able to update the map more than 100 million times a day. Therefore, whether you are traveling around the world or navigating through a city, you can see the latest information. Now, we are leveraging the powerful capabilities of the Gemini model to transform the map and help you get answers to complex questions about the world