All of you tech freaks out there brace your selves, Google has released an all new installment of maps, they call it the New Google Maps. Although in my personal opinion the older Google Maps were just fine. But hey technology changes with time, nobody likes obsolete software. So lets find out in this article how this New Google Maps is an improvement over an old one. In this The New Google Maps A Sneak Preview article I would also be introducing the New Google Maps Android App.
Another interesting thing about the new Google Maps is that they are not available to everyone yet. They are only available by an invite, luckily I requested an invite and received it quick. Although while I was surfing the internet, I found some articles stating one can enable new Google Maps, by adding a cookie. I haven’t tried it, but if any one tries it, and if it works do let me know by adding a comment below. BTW you will see this window if you’re officially invited.
Whats new?
Now the question is whats new in new Google Maps ? To answer that, the first thing that I noticed was the smooth interactive interface. To start off I took a tour. It says there’s a new interactive search box (by the way this also had real smooth animations), and asked me to search “sushi, boston, USA”. Since I am reviewing this, I searched this in both old and new Google Maps.
Now the major differences I observed were in user experience. The new Google Maps have much better user experience. For example, in new one, my search results were shown on screen, instead of pins. On the other hand in old one, results were listed in left column, with markers/pins on screen. Also in new Google maps another addition is to perform a search right away to show results from top reviewers and perform related searches, like veggie burgers, and Asian restaurants. This feature is not available in old version.
In new interface when I click on “Snappy Sushi”, the pin pops up in an animated way, an improvement over the old version. But the focus here is information about that marker. It shows various options like street view and photos, I know this also exists in old version but this is shown in a better manner to improve the overall user experience.
Another new feature in new Google Maps is to “See the world from every angle”. According to this feature we can view any place from every angle like, street view, photo tours, and other imagery in the carousel. Another addition in new Google Maps is to get info cards about, almost every thing. Like click on a street to get an info card or click on a park or on a building and you’ll get an info card. This improves the user experience to a next level as this doesn’t exist in the old version. Also you can switch to earth view, in this you can view maps in 3D and pan tilt according to your need.
The New Google Maps on Android
All these features are also available on Google Maps Android App. On Android app you can use whole lot of features like:
- Navigation Beta
- Live Traffic
- Transit
- Walking Directions
- Biking Direction Beta
- Offline Maps
- Indoor Maps
- My Location and Compass
Therefore to conclude I would say the new Google Maps as a whole is a great improvement over the old one. As they have improved its interface and experience to the next level. But I also have a suggestion for the Google Maps team. At the moment stripped down version of Google Maps is available on iPhone .We all know Google is a very strong competitor for apple, but Google is providing a service by the name of Google Maps, therefore all these features should also be present for the iPhone app.
Still its been a great interactive experience with new Google Maps, therefore I’d give a THUMBS UP to it. To stay connected with us share this with your friends on Google+ and Facebook also like our Facebook page.
Born in New Delhi, India. A software engineer by profession, an android enthusiast and an evangelist. My motive here is to create a group of skilled developers, who can develop something new and good. Reason being programming is my passion, and also it feels good to make a device do something you want. In a very short span of time professionally I have worked with many tech firms. As of now too, I am employed as a senior engineer in a leading tech company. In total I may have worked on more than 20 projects professionally, and whenever I get spare time I share my thoughts here at Truiton.
