With the use of artificial intelligence and computer vision, the company is now bringing new features to Google Maps. While before, you could only get a bird’s-eye view of a place, today you can really stroll inside a coffee shop or a renowned restaurant, explore your neighborhood in more depth, or enjoy a tour of the city in an electric vehicle.
If you’ve ever wished that you could go inside a place while using Google Maps, your wish has come true: the company has now introduced Immersive View, which allows you to look around within a building or other structure as if you were truly there. How then does Google do this? In order to do this, it combines billions of Street View shots with aerial views using AI and computer vision. It compiles all the information you provide into a computer model of the area you want to investigate.
This is now reflected in Maps, making it possible to digitally explore a location’s exterior and surrounds in exquisite detail. To see the area’s transformation during the day, you may use the time slider. The impact of the weather on the region is clearly visible. As was previously said, you may use Google Maps to have a peek inside a famous restaurant to get a better feel for the place before you go there, and you can also use it to get a better sense of the regions you wish to visit by seeing traffic statistics.
When asked how they do it, Google says they employ “neural radiance fields (NeRF), a sophisticated AI approach” that “transforms conventional photos into 3D representations.” Using this method, the Google team was able to build amazing recreations of rooms, complete with exact texturing and lighting. London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo will now have access to Immersive View. Those who are visiting or already reside in these locations and would want to undertake some virtual sightseeing may do so as of today.
Use Augmented Reality to Get Around
Google Maps has had augmented reality navigation available for some time now, with the addition of outdoor Live View all the way back in 2020. In the following year, the company added indoor sites in the US, Tokyo, and Zurich to the functionality, and now they’re taking it a step further by adding over a thousand indoor Live View locations to the database.
That means you’ll have more opportunities to whip out your phone and use it to research some of the biggest shopping centers, railway stations, and airports. With the help of your compatible smartphone, you’ll be able to quickly and easily get information on local businesses including restaurants, banks, parks, and more. Indoor Live View enhancements will be released over the next several months.
It seems that the version of Google Maps used in electric cars will soon be updated to provide new features of interest to EV drivers. To make things easier, Google will now factor in charging stations when directing you to destinations where you’ll need to plug up your car. In addition, motorists will be able to narrow their search for charging stations by amenity, allowing them to zero in on locations with 150 kW or more available. In addition, the inclusion of charging station information to search results will facilitate multitasking.
Most of these updates may be tried out immediately after installing Google Maps on your iOS or Android smartphone. Today, the Immersive View launches in London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo, with the augmented reality navigation tool expanding to other locations over the following three months. If your electric car has Google Maps preinstalled, you should have access to all of the latest features without lifting a finger. Every manufacturer is different, so if you don’t notice it right away, that’s to be expected.
