Later this year, Google Maps will get something called immersive browsing, and the name says it all. This should initially work for Los Angeles, London, New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo, with more cities coming soon.
The immersive look of Google Maps takes street view and aerial photography to a whole new level, combining them to immerse you in the atmosphere of a place wherever you are. So let’s say you want to take a virtual trip to London and “hover over Westminster to get a close look at the surroundings and the stunning architecture of places like Big Ben.” The immersive view allows you to do this.
With the time slider, you can check how the area looks at different times of the day and under different weather conditions, and thus find out where the busiest places are. When you get down to street level, you can see information like live occupancy and nearby traffic jams, and even pop into restaurants and other places to get an idea of what they’re like before you go.
The immersive look of Google Maps is supposed to work on any phone and this is made possible by Google’s ability to combine billions of street views and aerial photographs to create a rich digital model of the world, says ITZine.
NIXSolutions adds that with the time slider, you can check how the area looks at different times of the day and under different weather conditions, and thus find out where the busiest places are. When you get down to street level, you can see information like live occupancy and nearby traffic jams, and even pop into restaurants and other places to get an idea of what they’re like before you go there.
Also, Green Routing is coming soon to Europe after an initial debut in the US and Canada, and Live View is now available to third-party app developers. Live View is a feature that helps you navigate as you walk by using AR to display arrows and directions. Companies like Lime are already using it to help riders park e-bikes and electric scooters, while Telstra and Accenture are using it to help sports and concertgoers find seats, stands and restrooms at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium. More applications will definitely follow soon.