12 new and coming Maps innovations

[MortenCopenhagen]

What new features were actually presented by the Googlers in the celebration video?

In the announcements prior to the event, we could read:

See where Maps is going next

Learn more about new developments for Maps, plus hear how we’re meeting our users’ changing needs.

It was easy to get caught up in the celebrations and not focus on what was mentioned about new and future features on Google Maps. So in this post, I will try to summarize and comment on the novelties disclosed to us.

I noticed 12 innovations in the presentation. At first, I only remembered one of them (#8). Maybe you noticed more than these 12. Please comment below also, if you want to share observations on which of the new features are already available to you.

The 12 innovations are listed below in the same order they were mentioned in the presentation.

My comments are subjective and reflect what features are already available where I live. It can be very different in your region.

Chris Phillips, VP & General Manager for Google Maps (Geo team)

Chris mentioned, that Making Maps more immersive and visual is a priority.

News #1: Immersive view (see the video clip)

Comment: I wonder if this is any different from what we already discussed in August when @LaloPadilla postedImmersive View is now available!? Chris mentioned something about experiencing how places look today, tomorrow, or even later in the week. Could a new time-traveling feature be coming? Probably not.

News #2: Search with live view (see the video clip)

Comment: This is already available in many places. I believe I have tried it already.

News #3: Neighborhood vibe (see the video clip)
This will allow us to zoom in and see cover photos and also videos presented directly on the Map (without opening the pins).

Comment: I have seen cover photos of places already pop up directly on the map, but I have not yet seen any videos.

News #4: Eco-friendly routing (see the video clip)

Comment: He did not promise this to be rolled out beyond the US and Canada, but it is already available here in Denmark. I use it more than once a week here in Denmark.

Jean Choi (Product Manager for Reviews)

News #5: Structured reviews (see the video clip)
More easy-to-answer questions are now available worldwide when reviewing restaurants, hotels, and parks. More question types and also free-form answers are coming.

Comment: Yes, this is something I have already seen implemented. They are beta-testing free-form answers on vegetarian food options and accessibility info. I like it.

News #6: Aggregated price info (see the video clip)

Screenshot from the video showing Price per person breakdown:

Comment: I am trying to remember seeing this where I live. Have you seen it? Jean mentioned it is now available in more than 30 countries.

Yatin Chawathe (Engineering leader for Google Maps)

Yatin mentioned rainbow-colored LGBT prides routes (see the video clip)

Comment: I have not seen these so far.

Masa Ui (Sr Product Manager for Videos)

News #7: 3 ways to add photos and videos (see the video clip)

• The Contribute Tab
• The Community Feed (in the Explore Tab)
• The Placesheets (used to call these the Place’s Page)

Comment: I was not aware that we can now add photos from the Community Feed. I found this:

News #8: Videos can now be added to reviews (see the video clip)

Comment: It’s about time! I remember quite a few issues where Local Guides got frustrated because they were unable to do so. Have you noticed this new and most welcome feature?

News #9: We can add videos to posts (see the video clip)

Comment: I’m guessing he means videos can now be added to updates.

News #10: Videos ranking higher on Placesheets (see the video clip)

Comment: Yes, I have noticed this. And this is likely to give good videos a lot more views compared to earlier. Wonderful.

Also, I noticed Masa distinguishes between End users and Contributors. I feel I’m in both categories.

Karolina Pyszkiewicz (Manager for the Community driven content feed under the Explore tab)

You can reach the Community Feed by swiping up after hitting the Explore Tab.

News #11: The Community Feed will now be expanded to also work when you search for a city, neighborhood, or country far from your location (see the video clip)

Comment: I’m still unable to see this.

News #12: The Community Feed now has category filters (see the video clip)

Comment: This is not yet available around here.

I hope you enjoyed this overview of 12 innovations recently implemented, being rolled out, or coming soon in your Maps app. Which ones are you most excited about?

Cheers
Morten

[AdrianLunsong]

@MortenCopenhagen Nice post pulling in all the various upcoming (or already out) features! Like yourself, I have a mixed bag of experiences.

#1 Immersive View - I can see this on mobile for London e.g. Tower of London. You’ll have to tap on the icon on the map and then scroll down to where photos are normally shown in the listing and now it shows a spiralling 3D view.

#2 Live View - Yup, seen and used this multiple times now.

#3 Neighbourhood Vibe - I can see something similar but my pins are circular with different colours denoting different categories e.g. food & drink, landmarks, POIs etc. The interface shown in the video shows much larger pins and with videos.

#4 Eco Friendly Routing - Yup, seen this too although I don’t use since I don’t cycle nor drive.

#5 Structured Reviews - Yup, seen this too and I love it!

#6 Aggregated Price Info - Nope, not seen this yet.

#? (you missed a number?) LGBTQ+ Pride routes - This only pops up when a Pride parade is coming up soon so you’ll have to wait for Pride season to begin to start seeing it in countries that support Pride parades. I can only guess that Google works with local city officials to get the information about the parade route.

#7 Adding photos from Community Feed - I have a similar experience to yours

#8 Adding videos to reviews - Finally!! I haven’t tested this yet but I have a batch of reviews to write so hopefully that feature is up and running then!

#9 Adding videos to posts - I don’t think we can control this as it’s an automated transfer of our contributions (photos, reviews) to the Community Feed, assuming with some form of selection/filter going on.

#10 Videos ranking higher - I’ve not noticed this yet.

#11 Community Feed to be included in searches - I have also not seen this yet. Check out the reaction video that I posted under Reaction VII (46 minutes onwards). It currently works like normal when you’re browsing the map but when you search for a place, the Feed is not part of the results page yet.

#12 Categories for Community Feed - Hurrah for this… and no, I’ve not seen it yet!

And I don’t think you missed anything

[MortenCopenhagen]

Thanks for your detailed response, @AdrianLunsong .

I deliberately avoided numbering the pride rainbows because the Googler mentioned it as something he did in the past.

But the definition of new features is a bit shaky when some (or even many) of us already have seen the innovations! But I guess we are more observant than most Maps users. And hence more picky or maybe we are just lucky to live in places where the implementation of new features happen earlier than in other regions.

It would be great to hear from more fellow guides what your think of the novelty value of the presented new features.

All the best

Morten

[SholaIB]

Hello @MortenCopenhagen

Let me jump in behind @AdrianLunsong

Like one of the moderators said to you sometime ago,your eye and mind for details is amazing. This is a very detailed post. You may need a little cup of coffee or cold drink to enjoy it. Thank you for sharing it and so faithfully acting as a G.S that you are.

Now you and the rest of others are quite fortunate to be in regions where implementations and test run of these applications are very effective. Most of these features takes a good while to be rolled out in Africa(The west especially)

For instance, it’s 12th Dec today and the on-going challenge is yet to activated here in the country I am in. It’s the first challenge that is worldwide and I was quite excited about it. Alas it’s not looking feasible. However Deni is on the ball though to escalate the issue to the team involved.

Now I love #6 aggregate price info but am.sorry to say I haven’t noticed any of these new innovation as a regular map user.Nevertheless we admit that these changes takes time to get rolled out. We will be hoping to wait patiently for it to come.

Congratulations again fellow G.S and keep shinning and guiding.

Cheers

[JanVanHaver]

Great post @MortenCopenhagen a.k.a. Mr. Well-deserved Guiding Star 2022 I like the level of detail. I have watched the video twice (once live and once in the reaction video @AdrianLunsong published) and had actually also taken notes about some of the announcements, to be included podcast episode.

[JustJake]

Holy smokes, @MortenCopenhagen ; I honestly only thought there were a couple of new features. I definitely did not catch 12 newsworthy announcements. But, since we’re “in the know,” some of these are not really new. As you mentioned, the Immersive View, Eco-Routing, Vibe, and Structured Reviews have been live for a while and announced on Connect in one form or another before the event.

I am unable to see the filters in the Community Feed, but I honestly have not used it that much. I think if I were traveling more it would be more beneficial. I have noticed that when searching other areas, the feed updates to reflect where I’m looking on the map. Adding photos/reviews from within the Feed is a bit out of place. Once you choose to add, you then have to search for a place that you’re going to review. I’d rather select it on the map and let the system decide whether it belongs in the Community Feed.

The Aggregated Price Info is a pretty nice feature. We’ve been asked to note the price on reviews for a while, so it’s good to see where this data is going.

It’s easy to miss because the full report is collapsed when scrolling through the overview. Only the total average shows

Selecting the report gives the breakdown between responses

I will mention that selecting “Add Price” brings you to the review screen and is not a standalone option to include your price experience.

Thank you for noting all of these new innovations. I feel like I should watch the whole thing a couple more times now!

[Stephanie_OWL]

@MortenCopenhagen

Hi Morten

Vielen Dank für diese detaillierte Beschreibung!

Für die nachhaltige Routenführung wirbt Google in Deutschland im TV.

Ganz direkt ist mir dies nach den Guiding Stars aufgefallen.

Selber ausprobiert habe ich es noch nicht.

Und Videos endlich gleich bei der Rezension einfügen zu können finde ich wunderbar. Bevor diese Option möglich war, musste ich erst die Rezension schreiben und Fotos hinzufügen… Absenden… Und später dann meine Rezension aufrufen und dann unter weiteren Fotos einfügen… So habe ich es natürlich einige Male vergessen.

[PetrusMaximus]

News #13: Automatic filters and shadowbanns - Users are arbitary selected and their contributions get shadowbanned. It is like a normal ban but with our technology the banned user does not realize he got banned. That prevents stupid questions from the users why we censor their content. We learned that one from China.

[Gezendunyali]

Thank you for explaining the details very well. @MortenCopenhagen