Google Maps: what is it? And how does it work?

Google is a true tech giant, and its products vary from software like Google apps and Google search engine to hardware like Google Pixel phones, and Google Home and many others, today we are going to explore one of the most used Google apps which is Google Maps. Google Maps is a web mapping service developed by Google, and it offers everything you might need in a map in the 21st century, from satellite mapping to route planning, real-time traffic conditions, and 360° street view photos. If you use Google Maps usually then probably you have an idea how useful it is, but in case you don’t use it yet then follow this article with us where we discuss what is Google maps exactly? and how does it work? And we list the major updates that the app got in 2018.

Ever since Google Maps was launched in 2005, it kept developing and improving in order to deliver the best mapping service in the world. It allows all users to have a different look on the world and explore other places from the moon in the space to the deep ocean through everything in between. The service is available on many platforms and devices, you can open Google Maps on your web browser, smartphone or tablet, no matter if you have iOS or Android.

What does Google Maps do?

Using an example of a mobile app, Once you open Google Maps on your smartphone, the map of your area will show up, with a blue dot on the screen to represent your exact location, and on the bottom of the screen you will find three options, Transit, that can be used to show all public transport stations nearby with the timetables for each bus or train.

Driving and that’s in case you have your own car, and it will give you a real-time traffic information, so you know if you should leave earlier or not. And the third option is Explore it will help you to explore the area that you are currently in, you can find restaurants, cafes, gas stations, grocery stores, pharmacies, and much more.

On the upper part of the screen, you will find the search box where you can search for any place you want to go to or even any place in the world, and in case you’re not sure what place you want to choose, you can just type “supermarkets near me” for example, and it will give you results on all supermarkets in your area. The same example goes for any other place, whether it was a business or a touristic place.

Once you choose one of the results, a new page will show up, with photos on the top, you can scroll right to see all photos, and under the photos you will find options to choose from, Directions to the place from where you are right now, Call the place if there’s a phone number to call, also you can Save the place, and here you can choose between another three options, and mark the place with a label on the map you can choose Favorites, Want to go, or Starred places, and the last option will be to Share the place where you can share the place with your friends on any app you choose.

Below these options you will find the address of the place, then the working hours and how busy the place is during specific hours, phone number if it’s available, and the website if it’s also available. If you keep scrolling down you will find more photos of the place, and then reviews from other users who have already been there. if you want you can rate the place and write a review but we will talk about this later. Under the search box, you can find a small icon, you can use it to change the view mode, from Default which is the normal map, to Satellite which shows you a real satellite view, and Terrain which shows you the same map as Default but with all the terrains in it.

If we open the options menu we will find many options, first, Your Places, which will show you all the places that you labeled before, or the places that you have saved, or all the places that you have been to. The second option is Your Timeline, and here you can find all the places that you’ve been to, not only the places, but you can see all your moves on the map, that is only if you have your location turned on and you have internet connection while you’re outside, and this rise a big privacy question for Google, because everything you have done and all the places that you visited before is saved, you can choose any day in the past, and you will see your travelling line.

The third option is Your Contributions, and here we need to explain something, once you have a Google account and you used Google Maps, you are a Local guide.  Google local guide is a community-driven program where you help people and Google by adding, modifying and reviewing places you visit or have been to. In return, you get a lot of benefits based on your contribution. So for example if you go to a restaurant, and you liked or disliked the food or the service there, you can just add a review on Google Maps about your experience there, so you help others when they are deciding where to go, and the same way goes with photos you can add photos that you took of the place to Google Maps as well.

Each time you contribute something, you get points, and you make some progress, when you start you will be a Local guide level 1, and that’s basically all Google Maps users, and then you start evolving in levels, there are 10 levels, and if you get to high levels you will start getting some rewards for your contributions.

The fourth option is location Sharing, where you can choose to share your live location with your friends for a limited period of time, just for your friend to find you, for example, now you can stop being busy with all the texts and calls that you get from your friends asking you about directions. And the next option is Start driving, and this will put you in driving mode, where you can use voice commands to communicate with Google Maps.

The next two options are WiFi Only, and Offline Maps and I don’t think I need to explain that, but it’s good to mention that you can save the map of a city for example, and you can check it offline without the need for internet, this is good when you’re travelling or even in your own city if you don’t have any data plan on your phone.

Finally, you have a Google Earth option, which is a link to Google Earth app if you already have the app, and if you don’t then Google Play Store will open for you to download the app.

In case you own a business, it is very important to put your business on Google Maps and to make it as clear as possible, you need to add photos for the business location, clear working hours, a phone number, and a website if it’s available. But if you don’t own one, and you find some mistakes in anything on Google Maps, you can always suggest an edit, and the misleading information will change after a while.

 

Maps is not only about directions anymore!!

What we talked about so far is basically the main features that Google Maps had for a while now, and those features are everything you can ask from a map, but Google is not stopping here, Maps is expanding to cover a lot of other things and to help users to explore their area, or other cities and areas if they are travelling. During Google I/O conference 2018, Google announced a lot of new features that are coming to Maps, so let’s check them out and see what else can you do with Google Maps in 2018.

So we’ve talked before about Maps system of reviews in order to help people decide where to go or what to try, this whole system is part of Google’s plan to help users explore more, but so far, not that many users are using these features, people usually use Maps only for directions. But now with what’s coming this summer to Google Maps, I don’t think anyone would prefer to use Maps only for directions.

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First new feature that we are going to talk about is a new “For you” tab, which is basically a newsfeed platform only for you, where you can follow some places that you like or you’re planning to visit soon, or maybe you can follow some cities or other neighborhoods in your city, for example if you live far from the city center, you can easily follow some neighborhoods in the city center to stay up to date with all the events, and the new places, just imagine that you will know about any new place in your city right after it opens, no need for the word to spread anymore, so it’s just like social media, whenever there’s something happening or trending in the areas that you’re following, Google Maps would let you know in your feed.

Another interesting feature is two new lists, “Foodie list” and “Trending this week”. These two lists will show what’s new and worth trying, and where the trendmakers in your area are going usually. These two lists are based on the preferences of the whole population in the area, and with the Trending list, the trending places change for every season.

Another useful new feature that will help you to choose better is “Your match”, which is pretty similar to the star rating system that is already on Google Maps, but this time, the rating is personalized for you, so based on your ratings and preferences, Maps will learn what do you like usually and what places do you usually hang out in, so whenever you are looking for a new place to go, Maps will show you the “Your match” rate for that place, and whether you would like this place or not really. “Your match” is only based on your previous ratings and it is not related to what other users like you have liked or disliked.

One more feature that is coming to Maps this summer is “Group planning”. We all know the struggle when you are organizing a night out where you have to send a lot of links to your friends for them to choose one, well you don’t have to suffer anymore, with the new feature, you can now create your list by long-pressing on one of the listings, a head shaped bubble (just like Messenger head-chat) will pop-up and stay there while you are adding more places to the list, once you’re done, you can easily press on the bubble and share it with your friends on any platform, and they can vote on which place do they want to go. This will save you a lot of time trying to organize any gathering outside.

All those new AI-powered features are coming to Google Maps soon this summer according to Google. And they will be available on both Android and iOS, while the web version is excluded from this new update for now. So all we have to do is to wait until we get these amazing features, and start using Google Maps on a whole new level.

Read also: Google Lens: What is it? How does it work?