Google wants to beautify its maps service. In the future, views should be even more realistic and almost have a 3D character. This is ensured by the new function Immersive View.
It is already possible to be navigated using Google Maps and take a closer look at streets thanks to Street View. But the view is not really round. Google wants to change that and gives Maps a new look with Immersive View. With it, a city can be explored in 3D and extremely realistically using a smartphone, tablet or laptop.
Immersive View creates 3D view in Google Maps
With Immersive View, Google Maps combines the classic map view as well as the existing Street View recordings with current aerial photos taken by satellites. This creates a kind of 3D view of a place that users can explore from a bird’s eye view. The whole thing is reminiscent of a drone flight over a city. The company uses an example in London (from timestamp 0:39) to show exactly what immersive view should look like on Google Maps:
The new view makes it easier for users to explore places before they visit and to discover places or paths that they want to visit later. With Immersive View, Google Maps even provides a controller that allows you to jump between different times and weather conditions and thus view the surroundings at different times of the day, whether it’s raining, snowing or sunny. The special thing about it: Thanks to an AI, it is even possible to observe live how the weather at the viewed location will develop over the next few hours. Google Maps simulates how, for example, a storm is brewing.
As soon as users zoom into a street, they can also examine local restaurants, cafés and hotels and, thanks to the AI integrated in Google Maps, receive information on opening hours, occupancy, contact details and much more.
When is the new feature going live?
As Google announces, Immersive View should be available on almost all Android smartphones and tablets as well as on laptops that can access Google Maps. The new view is scheduled to start this year, but initially limited to a few cities. Los Angeles, London, New York, San Francisco and Tokyo can then be explored using 3D navigation. Other cities and regions are to follow.
Eco-friendly route planning
Another innovation in Google Maps concerns environmentally friendly travel. In the future, the map service would like to suggest users not only the fastest routes, but also the routes with the lowest possible fuel consumption. This type of navigation is already available in Canada and the USA and is now to be introduced in Europe. However, Google has not yet given a time frame for this.