Recently, the blogger and famous reverse engineer, Jane Manchun Wong uncovered a bunch of new features coming to Google Maps. As always, Google seems to be working on its navigational tool to make it more convenient for people to use and also broadens the range of their applications.
Many changes coming to the Google Maps are detailed in a series of tweets by Wong. Some changes are small and can easily be overlooked, but others might have a major impact on the usability of Google Maps app. Many travelers will find one of the new features very useful when the daily life and routine disrupted by the ongoing pandemic, this feature is a “first-mile” option for connecting to public transit.
There’s only a small trip to get to a subway, train station, or a bus close by for many of the commuters. Google will allow users to choose and pick the types of transportation they would use for the “first mile” of their daily travel which technically can also be used for the “last mile” of as well. The options for the commute included are cars, bikes, rickshaws, motorcycles, or ride-sharing services like Uber, Careem or Lyft.
Google Maps is also planning to provide better insights on the ride fares through at least Uber as the screenshots reveal it. Utilizing this, Google Maps will link to a ride-sharing service and the user’s routes, offering them immediate and accurate ride fares within Google Maps itself which is very convenient when compared to having a separate application just for commute alone. It is assumed that it will also be available for other ride-sharing platforms like Lyft as well. Apparently, Google Maps is also working on integrating “Bay Wheels,” a bike-sharing service based in San Francisco.
Google is also bringing a few User Interface (UI) changes to Maps. The search bar at the top of the app might be rounded off with the user’s profile picture on the right of the screen and the Google Maps logo on the far left. Even though it is a small change, it looks really good and polished. There are some other changes as well like the “place” cards which show common words in reviews for a location as it was shown in the screenshot.
However, it is still unclear whether any of these features will be released to the public as there is no official date for them to be released on, nor any specified update batch where we might expect it. But they seem to welcome all improvement and hopefully, they might as well be released to the public very soon.
Read next: Google Meet Gets New Shortcut
Many changes coming to the Google Maps are detailed in a series of tweets by Wong. Some changes are small and can easily be overlooked, but others might have a major impact on the usability of Google Maps app. Many travelers will find one of the new features very useful when the daily life and routine disrupted by the ongoing pandemic, this feature is a “first-mile” option for connecting to public transit.
There’s only a small trip to get to a subway, train station, or a bus close by for many of the commuters. Google will allow users to choose and pick the types of transportation they would use for the “first mile” of their daily travel which technically can also be used for the “last mile” of as well. The options for the commute included are cars, bikes, rickshaws, motorcycles, or ride-sharing services like Uber, Careem or Lyft.
Google Maps is also planning to provide better insights on the ride fares through at least Uber as the screenshots reveal it. Utilizing this, Google Maps will link to a ride-sharing service and the user’s routes, offering them immediate and accurate ride fares within Google Maps itself which is very convenient when compared to having a separate application just for commute alone. It is assumed that it will also be available for other ride-sharing platforms like Lyft as well. Apparently, Google Maps is also working on integrating “Bay Wheels,” a bike-sharing service based in San Francisco.
Google is also bringing a few User Interface (UI) changes to Maps. The search bar at the top of the app might be rounded off with the user’s profile picture on the right of the screen and the Google Maps logo on the far left. Even though it is a small change, it looks really good and polished. There are some other changes as well like the “place” cards which show common words in reviews for a location as it was shown in the screenshot.
Google Maps is working on this new Search Bar design,— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) June 20, 2020
looks rounder and includes the new Maps logo pic.twitter.com/HIIZ6kfDdV
Google Maps is working on a new place card design where the Photos became part of the card pic.twitter.com/LyS8wU9oIh— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) June 20, 2020
However, it is still unclear whether any of these features will be released to the public as there is no official date for them to be released on, nor any specified update batch where we might expect it. But they seem to welcome all improvement and hopefully, they might as well be released to the public very soon.
Read next: Google Meet Gets New Shortcut
