Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution/9to5Google
Google Maps is getting all kinds of improvements these days, and when it's not focusing on navigation, the Mountain View-based search giant keeps bringing all kinds of useful subtle refinements to the app.
The latest such idea landed in Google Maps a few days ago, enabling users to search for items they want to purchase directly within the app.
Here's how it works.
If you're new to Google Maps, you probably don't know that the search box in the app is not just for writing the names of the places you want to visit. Most people use it this way – typing the point of interest, such as a store or a point of interest – but the search box can do more in Google Maps.
For example, if you want to have a pizza, you don't have to Google for the best places that serve pizza nearby. You can use Google Maps, and when you type "pizza," you'll see a list of all nearby restaurants where you can eat delicious Italian food. Google Maps will provide all the typical information, including user reviews and ratings, so you can pick a restaurant and use the application to get turn-by-turn directions to its location.
Google is now expanding this feature with the integration of more nearby stores, so you can search for home goods, electronics, apparel, and groceries. This means that you can just type "tablets" and see a list of stores where you can find electronics and tablets. You can pick one location from the list and let Google Maps guide you to the destination.
Google Maps has received major updates this year, and the most notable are the addition of a speedometer on CarPlay and incident reporting. Google Maps users running Android Auto and CarPlay can now pin the location of common hazards on the map, including accidents, speed cameras, and roadworks. Other users receive warnings when they routes include the flagged locations, so Google Maps makes the road more predictable and safer.
Google has significantly reduced the feature gap between Google Maps and Waze, but improvements like this – the ability to search for items and see nearby stores – turn Google Maps into a more advanced mapping platform. Waze continues to be an application whose exclusive focus is traffic navigation.
Google Maps has become an all-in-one mapping platform that can do more than just direct you from where you are to where you want to be, despite the improvements that its navigation component has received lately. It also received several notable electric vehicle features, including the ability to look for compatible charging stations when users only type the make and model of the vehicle into Google Maps, so drivers don't need to search for a plug type specifically.
Here's how it works.
If you're new to Google Maps, you probably don't know that the search box in the app is not just for writing the names of the places you want to visit. Most people use it this way – typing the point of interest, such as a store or a point of interest – but the search box can do more in Google Maps.
For example, if you want to have a pizza, you don't have to Google for the best places that serve pizza nearby. You can use Google Maps, and when you type "pizza," you'll see a list of all nearby restaurants where you can eat delicious Italian food. Google Maps will provide all the typical information, including user reviews and ratings, so you can pick a restaurant and use the application to get turn-by-turn directions to its location.
Google is now expanding this feature with the integration of more nearby stores, so you can search for home goods, electronics, apparel, and groceries. This means that you can just type "tablets" and see a list of stores where you can find electronics and tablets. You can pick one location from the list and let Google Maps guide you to the destination.
Google Maps has received major updates this year, and the most notable are the addition of a speedometer on CarPlay and incident reporting. Google Maps users running Android Auto and CarPlay can now pin the location of common hazards on the map, including accidents, speed cameras, and roadworks. Other users receive warnings when they routes include the flagged locations, so Google Maps makes the road more predictable and safer.
Google has significantly reduced the feature gap between Google Maps and Waze, but improvements like this – the ability to search for items and see nearby stores – turn Google Maps into a more advanced mapping platform. Waze continues to be an application whose exclusive focus is traffic navigation.
Google Maps has become an all-in-one mapping platform that can do more than just direct you from where you are to where you want to be, despite the improvements that its navigation component has received lately. It also received several notable electric vehicle features, including the ability to look for compatible charging stations when users only type the make and model of the vehicle into Google Maps, so drivers don't need to search for a plug type specifically.
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