It’s hard to imagine a time when we did not have instant access to Google Maps, but it’s easy to forget that it’s not perfect. Therefore, we look forward to this latest update.
Google Maps now offers many more street details to better represent what streets look like in real life and make it easier for you to get around. The downside is that it is currently only available in four locations: New York, San Francisco, Central London and Central Tokyo.
These features were first announced last year, with some details starting in early December after the Google Maps Beta. At the time, the details only included smaller things like sidewalks and traffic lights, while Google today added many more useful things, such as roadside vegetation, more accurate road shapes, pedestrian islands, and other smaller features.
But the benefits do not end with simple visual cues, as these features also include additional accessibility information. Wheelchair and pushchair access is also indicated on maps, as well as obstacles such as stairs.
In other words, for a pedestrian navigating through these four cities, regardless of your circumstances, you now have much more useful information to process you easily and efficiently.
It is worth mentioning that not all of these details are currently universally available. London and Tokyo, for example, show no traffic lights. This is no doubt due to the fact that Google did not have enough information at the time of writing, similar to how the entire update is limited to a small handful of cities.
The update is based on Google collecting enough relevant information from each city. Its large size therefore means that you can not expect these details to be available everywhere at the same time.
But if you find yourself in these four cities, these will be incredibly useful things on your phone screen. The more you know about your environment, the less stressful you will find in an area where you are completely unfamiliar.
The best part is that it’s an update to the server, which means you do not have to do anything. Simply upload the version of Google Maps you want to use, and all the news is already there.