Tag: google maps

Google Maps Makes It Easier to Find EV Chargers, Search Now Shows Sustainable Travel Options

Google announced new features for Maps and Search on Earth Day (April 17). The latest update is tailored for electric vehicles and lets travellers find specific information about the location of EV chargers, plan charging stops for road trips and more. The search giant will show AI-generated navigation information describing the charger’s specific location based on details from user reviews. Additionally, Google Maps and Search now show sustainable travel options including public transit and walking routes that create fewer carbon emissions alongside driving directions. This update will roll out to fifteen cities around the world.

Through a blog post, Google has announced a series of changes to its Maps and Search services aimed at promoting EV use and sustainable travel for everyone. In the coming months, Google Maps will show AI-powered summaries that describe an EV charger’s specific location based on information from user reviews. This will include details about the experience of other users, waiting time, type of plugs and more to enable better navigation to EV charging stations.

On top of that, Google Maps will soon be able to suggest EV charging stations near users while on the road based on their battery’s charge level. It will display nearby chargers on the in-car map with details including real-time port availability and charging speed. This feature will be rolled out globally in the coming months, starting with vehicles that have Google built-in. Further, with a new EV filter Google is making it easier to find hotels on Search that offer onsite EV charging.

Meanwhile, Google Maps is bringing a new feature that shows public transit or walking suggestions next to driving routes. This will be available in the coming weeks in over fifteen cities around the world, including Amsterdam, Barcelona, London, Montreal, Paris, Rome, and Sydney.

Additionally, Google is adding more information on up-to-date train and bus schedules on the Maps with ticket prices along with links to book trips. This feature is now available for trains in 38 countries and long-distance bus routes in 15 countries.

Furthermore, Google Flights will start showing train route suggestions in the flight search results in the coming month.

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Google Maps to Get Live View Walking, Support for Mumbai Local Trains, More Features in India

Google announced a bunch of new regional features for Google Maps at its Building for India event in New Delhi on Thursday. The search engine giant is bringing improvements to Google Maps Street View, introducing live view walking, Lens in Maps, and more. Maps will also get enhancements for train travel and public transport in the country, with the Where Is My Train feature adding support for Mumbai and Kolkata local trains in the app. The new Google Maps features are coming to Android first, with iOS release set to arrive in the coming months.

Google Maps showcased India-specific features like Live view walking, Lens in Maps, fuel efficient routing, address descriptors, local trains support, among others, at the Building for India event. With the new updates, Google aims to develop richer and more comprehensive map for India that is more visual and immersive and caters to the country’s diverse mobility needs.

According to Google, Live view walking navigation is coming to 3,000 cities in the country, starting first with Android devices, with iOS support coming later down the line. The Lens in Maps feature, which will add Google Lens support in the application to help it utilise the phone camera for local information, is set to arrive by January 2024, Google said.

Fuel efficient routing, which brings more eco-friendly routes to Maps, will also be added to Google Maps in India. According to Google a green leaf symbol will show up on fuel efficient routing in Maps, making it distinct from regular navigation. The feature is set to arrive in January 2024 and will be available in over 20 cities.

The Where Is My Train feature, which allows for live tracking of trains, will add support for Mumbai local trains soon. Local trains support for Kolkata is next in line. Additionally, Maps will also get address descriptors in early 2024.

Back in October, Google rolled out “Immersive View for routes” and a few other AI features to Google Maps. The Immersive View for routes feature will let users preview their route step-by-step while driving, walking, or cycling. The feature has started rolling out in select cities like Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dublin, Florence, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Paris, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Tokyo, and Venice this week on both Android and iOS,

Google I/O 2023 saw the search giant repeatedly tell us that it cares about AI, alongside the launch of its first foldable phone and Pixel-branded tablet. This year, the company is going to supercharge its apps, services, and Android operating system with AI technology. We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Google Maps Gets Immersive View for Routes, AI-Powered Lens, More Detailed Navigation in Select Regions

Google showed off a host of new AI-powered features and services at its Google I/O event earlier this year in May. Among those, Google Maps, too, was promised a suite of new AI capabilities, including an impressive Immersive View feature that would provide a birds-eye view of your route. Now, “Immersive View for routes” and a few other AI features are finally arriving as part of a new Maps update, Google has announced. The search engine giant is also bringing Google Lens to Maps and adding more real-word information to navigation.

The new Immersive View for routes will let users preview their route step-by-step while driving, walking, or cycling. The feature has started rolling out in select cities like Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dublin, Florence, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Paris, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Tokyo, and Venice this week on both Android and iOS, Google said in its blog Thursday.

Immersive View will provide a panoramic birds-eye perspective of your route from start to finish, with turn-by-turn directions. Users can also plan their journey, decide when to head out based on helpful information in Immersive View, like simulated traffic and weather conditions, via the time slider.

Immersive View will give detailed panoramic view of your route
Photo Credit: Google

Google is also bringing a Lens in Maps feature to help users understand their surroundings in real time. Formerly called Search with Live View, the feature essentially adds Google Lens in the Maps search bar. With a quick tap of the Lens icon, you can open up your camera in Maps and find information about nearby shops, restaurants, or ATMs. The Lens in Maps feature is expanding to more than 50 new cities, including Austin, Las Vegas, Rome, São Paulo, and Taipei. Google did not specify if Immersive View and Lens features would be coming to India.

Navigation on Google Maps is also getting better, bringing more real-world information, Google said. Navigation will now feature updated colours throughout the map, more realistic buildings along your route, and improved lane details. These updates will start rolling out in the coming months in 12 countries, including the US, Canada, France, and Germany, Google said.

Additionally, EV owners driving cars with Google built-in will now get more helpful charging station information, including whether a charger is compatible with their vehicle. This update will go live globally on iOS and Android this week in regions where EV charging station information is available.

Finally, Google is also adding improvements to Search in Google Maps, which will now provide users more answers to their queries and help them discover things to do. The search feature will provide photo-first results of what you’re looking for, Google said. “These results are based on the analysis of billions of photos shared by the Google Maps community — all done with AI and advanced image recognition models,” the company added.

Google I/O 2023 saw the search giant repeatedly tell us that it cares about AI, alongside the launch of its first foldable phone and Pixel-branded tablet. This year, the company is going to supercharge its apps, services, and Android operating system with AI technology. We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Samsung Galaxy Watches Get New Google Maps Update in Latest Wear OS Version: All Details

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 5 users received a significant Google Maps update with the latest Watch OS update. The South Korean tech giant is also expected to launch the Galaxy Watch 6 series soon at the second Galaxy Unpacked event this year, confirmed to be held in the country’s capital city of Seoul in July. The upcoming lineup is likely to include two models — a base and a Classic variant, with the latter said to bring back the iconic mechanical rotating bezel which will reportedly allow users to navigate different apps and widgets on the device.

The 11.85.0502.W version of the WatchOS comes with several bug fixes and claims to provide a marked improvement in helping users “discover new places and navigate to them.” Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 5 series users can access the update through Play Store on the smartwatch. They need to scroll down to the Manage Apps widget, and then select Update All or they can select the Google Maps option and only update that.

At launch, Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 was listed at $279 (roughly Rs. 22,100) for the 40mm Bluetooth variant and $329 (roughly Rs. 26,100) for the LTE variant. It is offered in Graphite, Pink Gold, and Silver colour options. On the other hand, the Pro model, available in Black Titanium and Gray Titanium colour options, was listed at $449 (roughly Rs. 35,600) for the Bluetooth variant and $499 (roughly Rs. 39,600) for the LTE variant. 

The devices run on Wear OS 3.5-based One UI Watch 4.5. The 44mm variant of the base model sports a 1.4-inch Super AMOLED display while the 40mm variant comes with a 1.2-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 396×396 pixels. It is powered by an in-house Exynos W920 SoC paired with 1.5GB of RAM and 16GB of inbuilt storage. The 44mm model is backed by a 410mAh battery and the 40mm version packs a 284mAh battery.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro model is equipped with a 1.4-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 450×450 pixels. It is also powered by a Samsung Exynos W920 SoC. The smart wearable comes with a Titanium case with a D-buckle sport band. The watch is backed by a 590mAh battery.

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Google Files Lawsuit Against US Firm, Aims to Curb Fake Business Listings

Alphabet‘s Google on Friday sued a Los Angeles man and his companies in San Jose, California federal court, claiming he created hundreds of fake business listings on its platforms and sold them to real businesses to lure in unsuspecting customers.

Fake reviews have been a recurring problem on internet commerce sites. Google said in a statement that it filed the lawsuit against Ethan QiQi Hu to “help put an end to these types of malicious schemes.”

Hu did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Google’s lawsuit said Hu creates sham businesses that appear in its search engine and Google Maps, using an “elaborate set of props” to verify them on video calls with the tech giant’s agents.

The lawsuit said Hu keeps a tool bench as a prop to verify fraudulent listings for garage repair, tree cutting and plumbing, and essential oils for verifying fake aromatherapy and reiki therapy businesses.

Google said Hu buys thousands of fake positive reviews to make the businesses appear legitimate. He then allegedly sells the profiles as “leads” to real businesses in the same fields, which receive contacts from potential customers who reach out to the fake businesses.

Google said Hu created more than 350 false profiles bolstered by over 14,000 illegitimate reviews.

The lawsuit accused Hu of false advertising, unlawful business practices and violating Google’s terms of service. Google asked the court for an unspecified amount of money damages and an order to block Hu’s alleged misconduct.

The case is Google LLC vs Hu, US District Court of the Northern District of California, No. 5:23-cv-02964.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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Google I/O: From Gmail to Maps, Here’s How Google Is Infusing Its Most Popular Products With AI

Google I/O 2023 began on Wednesday as Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai took to the stage to reveal several new changes coming to the company’s apps and services. Google’s annual developer conference for 2023 is focussed on artificial intelligence (AI) technology and the firm announced several new AI-powered features that are coming to services like search, Google Maps, Google Photos, and Gmail. Some of these features will be rolled out to customers in the coming weeks, while some will only be available later this year, Google said, while reiterating its “bold and responsible” approach to updating its products.

The first product from Google that is set to get an AI-backed upgrade is Gmail, the company announced during the Google I/O keynote. The company says it is expanding on its Smart Reply and Smart Compose features, which also rely on AI, into a new tool called “Help me write” that will roll out to Google Workspace users in the coming weeks.

Users can type in a prompt of an email they want to compose, and the tool will use a powerful generative model to quickly pull data from their Google account to generate a personalised email. These drafts can also be refined by the user, or automatically expanded using an “Elaborate” option. These features will start to roll out as part of Workspace updates, according to Google.

Google Photos, first introduced at Google I/O in 2015, has received several AI-powered features over the years that allow users to search for specific objects or people in their photo library. The company also offers a Magic Eraser tool on its Pixel smartphones, allowing users to remove people and objects from photos using AI — users on non-Pixel smartphones can also use this tool, with a Google One subscription.

Magic Editor for Google Photos
Photo Credit: Google

 

A new Magic Editor tool for Google Photos was unveiled on Wednesday, and the company claims it can add missing details in images where objects are partially visible, move subjects in an image after it has been captured, and maintain a consistent look across the image while editing a particular section. Google says Magic Editor for Google Photos will arrive later in 2023.

The company is also adding more AI capabilities to Google Maps, with a new “Immersive View for routes” feature that can give users who are walking, cycling, or driving, a bird’s eye view of the route, along with details of the traffic, air quality, weather, and visual indications of how these might change throughout the day. Google Maps’ new Immersive View for routes will be available in 15 cities — including London, New York, Tokyo, and San Francisco — by the end of the year.

Google’s search app is also getting an upgrade, as is the desktop browser search experience. The company has been scrambling to compete with Microsoft’s upgraded Bing, which runs on OpenAI’s GPT-4 technology. Using Google Bard, the search giant will offer users a conversational AI experience, that has now been opened to all users without a waitlist. The new Google search with generative AI can be enabled via a Labs setting and users can join a waitlist to test all the features offered by Bard-powered Google search, such as smarter shopping and follow up questions.  

Smartphone companies have launched many compelling devices over the first quarter of 2023. What are some of the best phones launched in 2023 you can buy today? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Fitbit Sense 2, Fitbit Versa 4 Smartwatches Gain Support for Google Maps on Android: Report

Fitbit Sense 2 and Fitbit Versa 4 smartwatches are reportedly getting support for Google Maps, nearly a month after it was announced by Google. Support for the company’s widely used navigation service is now rolling out for Android users, while Fitbit Sense 2 and Versa 4 owners who have paired the smartwatches to an iPhone will have to wait until 2023 for Google Maps support. The company previously added support for the Google Wallet app on Fitbit watches last month.

According to a report by 9to5Google, Google Maps app support is available for download on both Fitbit smartwatches from the official app, as long as you have an Android phone. The Google Maps app on the Fitbit Sense 2 and Fitbit Versa 4 smartwatches seem to be very basic.

However, the integration is not working as advertised, according to the report. The “Current trip” reportedly does not appear at the top of the Fitbit watch app. Also, users only have access to Auto-start settings. They can enable or disable it for driving, walking, and cycling. You can already access these features on the Fitbit companion app, which means Google still has to enable the step-by-step navigation for these smartwatches.

Users will be required to start navigation on their Android phone while it is connected to the Fitbit Sense 2 or Fitbit Versa 4 via Bluetooth. This means the app requires a constant Bluetooth connection to function on both Fitbit smartwatches.

To download Google Maps on your Fitbit Sense 2 and Versa 4 smartwatches, you will be required to go to the device settings tab in the Fitbit app and click on the new Google Maps icon. Once downloaded, grant the necessary permissions after you open it via the app list.

Last month, the Fitbit Sense 2 and Fitbit Versa 4 received a new software update that brought new features like handling on-wrist incoming phone calls from the paired smartphone, and the ability to turn off the screen with a hand gesture.

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Google Lens Icon Added to Search Homepage, Street View App Reportedly Shutting Down in 2023

The Google Lens icon will prominently feature on the Google Search homepage from now on, the search giant has announced. Meanwhile, a recent report claims that Google plans to discontinue its Street View app in March 2023. Google Street View app allows users to take 360-degree views of almost any street around the world. This app also allows users to contribute their own 360-degree imagery for the Street View database. Notably, the more popular Google Maps app also offers 360-degree Street View support. There is also a Street View Studio web app for contributors to upload their 360-degree imagery.

The Vice President of Engineering at Google Rajan Patel announced on Tuesday that the Google Lens icon has finally been added to the Google Search homepage. The Lens icon now sits alongside the mic icon inside the searchbox.

On clicking the icon, users get the option to drag and drop, upload, or paste a file link. Google Lens offers search Search, Text, Translate, and Find image source tools that were added to the desktop version of Chrome earlier this year.

Meanwhile, as per a report by 9to5Google, the Google Street View app will be discontinued on March 31, 2023. The company has reportedly placed a few shutdown notices for the app in the latest update version 2.0.0.484371618. These notices are not publicly visible for now.

The leaked screenshots depict Google asking contributors to migrate to Street View Studio for uploading their 360-degree videos. Meanwhile, the Street View and Photo Sphere features are available on Google Maps.

However, the Photo Paths feature in the Street View app could go down with the app. It allows smartphone users to upload 2D photos of streets that are not on the Street View database. For now, there is no replacement feature available on Google Maps or Street View Studio for Photo Paths.



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I was hungover on Google Maps, mistaken for Ozzy Osbourne

A young woman with a hangover from hell has been left humiliated after finding photos of herself on Google Maps, likening her hungover appearance to Ozzy Osbourne.

The woman, known only as Mandah, was perusing pics of her property on the street view site when she noticed the unfortunate images, taking to TikTok to self-deprecatingly share her story.

“Finding myself on Google Maps collecting a takeaway,” the British brunette captioned her video, which consisted of three separate snaps of herself, which were taken by a passing Google van.

Mandah revealed that she was “hungover” at the time the unflattering images were taken, and she certainly seemed to be struggling after a big night out on the booze.

The photos show a usually-glamorous Mandah dressed down in sweatpants, slouched over and sporting bedraggled hair. The brunette appears almost unaware of her surroundings, standing stunned as she holds a bag of takeout.

The photos show a usually-glamorous Mandah dressed down in sweatpants, slouched over and sporting bedraggled hair.
TikTok / @xmandahx
Several people claimed Mandah looked like Black Sabbath rocker Ozzy Osbourne, who is known for his dazed facial expressions and a hunched-over appearance.
AP

The Brit’s TikTok video has been viewed more than 800,000 times since it was shared on Wednesday, with many leaving hilarious comments mocking the mortifying situation.

Several people claimed Mandah looked like Black Sabbath rocker Ozzy Osbourne, who is known for his dazed facial expressions and a hunched-over appearance.

“It’s giving me Ozzy Osbourne shuffling around the house in slippers looking for his cat,” one person quipped.

Another viewer compared her to antagonist Samara Morgan from the 2002 horror flick “The Ring.”

“It’s giving me Ozzy Osbourne shuffling around the house in slippers looking for his cat,” one person quipped.
TikTok / @xmandahx
“I love this. I couldn’t stop laughing !!!! The fact you are actually super gorgeous in real life makes it even funnier,” another declared.
TikTok / @xmandahx
Another compared Mandah to antagonist Samara Morgan from the 2002 horror flick “The Ring.”

“Now we know what the girl from ‘The Ring’ has been up to,” they wisecracked.

Others empathized with Mandah, saying they had also experienced hellish hangovers and appreciated her ability to laugh at herself.

“You’re doing amazing sweetie:” Many empathized with the brunette, regaling tales about their own extreme hangovers.
TikTok / @xmandahx

“You’re doing amazing sweetie,” one encouraged.

“I love this. I couldn’t stop laughing !!!! The fact you are actually super gorgeous in real life makes it even funnier,” another declared.

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Google Search, Maps, Photos, YouTube Recover Following Outages in Some Parts of the World

Multiple Twitter users are reporting an outage that affects several Google services including the company’s iconic search engine. Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Drive, Google Duo, GMail, and YouTube are some of the other services that users are reportedly experiencing difficulty accessing this morning, according to Downdetector. The issues began at around 6:37am IST when reports of problems began to rise above the baseline and by 7:07am there were over 41,000 such complaints. The affected services started returning to normal by 7:22am but issues seem to have persisted for some users till at least this time, according to the outage tracker. No cause for the disruption has yet been established.

On Twitter, user reactions ranged from amused to surprised, with several users remarking that they had never seen Google Search go down before. Outages were reported anecdotally from across the United States, Australia, and India. Several users posted screenshots showing messages about an internal server error rather than their expected search results. 



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