Photo Credit: Jeandré Badenhorst | techTography
It’s about time the world’s most popular navigation app gets an upgrade, and what better time than in its 15th year of existence.
Design
First and probably most noticeable of all is the new Google Maps icon. Have a look at how the icon has modernised over the years:
Tabs
There will now be five tabs at the bottom of the screen to help you find your way. In addition to Explore and Commute you will find Saved, Updates and Contribute with the For You tab taking the high road.
Saved
By moving Saved to the home screen, you will have quicker access to your saved places, maps and lists. Your location history will also be visible in the Saved tab.
Updates
In the Updates tab, you will be able to see attractions around you with the help of local guide’s recommendations. This includes but is not limited to places to visit and restaurants.
Contribute
Here, it is your turn to play the local guide and give ratings to or post photos of places you visited.
Public Transport
With the help of users, Google Maps will have the ability to show if and how crammed the public transportation network is. It will also show if the transit system you chose has accessibility options available and in countries like Japan, India and more, Google Maps will have the capability to inform you if there are separate segments for women only.
Live View
Improvements were made with live view, the feature that uses augmented reality to show you your route. One small addition is a red pin that shows you exactly where you need to be and how far you still need to go. See a preview of how live view will look, here.
Smaller Features
There are a few smaller changes that you won’t notice if not looking specifically for it. These include seeing the temperature at locations and whether your destination has security cameras or security guards present.
If you have automatic updates enabled, you will only see the new app on your home screen and Google Maps as the title. But if you look in the App Store you will see the name has changed to Google Maps – Transit & Food.
You are also greeted with a video at the bottom of the screen when you open the updated app, giving you a short history of Google Maps and its features.
Availability and Name
The updated app is already available to download on iOS and Android.
I did run into a strange phenomenon though. I’m not sure whether it’s my iPhone 7, the region I’m in or if it’s just a bug, but the latest app logo showed on my home screen and when going to my app switcher, it still showed the old logo at the top of the app. Also, I only have only three tabs at the bottom namely Explore, Commute and For you. I am running iOS 13.3.1. If you have any idea why this might be the case, let me know in the comments.
Closing
Google made a lot of welcome changes, soothing our exploration experience and assisting us with faster navigation options to get us where we need to be. Let me know in the comments how you experience the new app.
