Maps has redefined how people travel and explore, from quickly understanding an area to truly experiencing a location as if you were there. We’re launching a whole new method of understanding your path before you leave, thanks to advances in AI. Also, developers may now benefit from the enchantment of immersive Google Maps experiences.
Using Immersive View for Routes, explore your trip
We’ve been reimagining Maps over the last year, making it more visual with tools like live View and immersive view for locations. You can now envision every section of a route before you travel it, whether you’re driving, walking, or cycling.
In order to generate a rich, digital visualization of the globe, Immersive View combines billions of Street View and aerial images. You may view all the information you want about your travel at once thanks to this technology.
You’ll get a three-dimensional experience when you obtain instructions that allow you to see bike lanes, sidewalks, crossroads, and parking along the way. You can be ready with a jacket or sunscreen by using the time slider to examine the route’s appearance as the weather changes throughout the day and the air quality information. And regardless of the method of transportation you choose, AI and historical driving patterns mimic the number of vehicles that may be on the road at any one moment. This is important since a route on a peaceful day can appear substantially different during rush hour.
From Street View ➡️ New Immersive View for routes in @GoogleMaps 🧵↓#GoogleIO pic.twitter.com/CMdR697hwm
— Google (@Google) May 10, 2023
In the next months, we’ll start implementing Immersive View for routes in Amsterdam, Berlin, Dublin, Florence, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Paris, Seattle, San Francisco, San Jose, Tokyo, and Venice.
Innovative techniques for creating immersive experiences by developers
Using the Google Maps Platform, we’re assisting developers in creating immersive experiences for their applications and websites. Developers can quickly include a 3D birds-eye video of a site of interest into their applications using our new Aerial View API, which is now in preview and gives users extra visual information about a location. Rent. is currently using the Aerial View API to make it easier for tenants to view a house and its surroundings so they can visually tour a community and make better relocation choices.
We’re currently introducing an experimental version of Photorealistic 3D Tiles using our Map Tiles API for developers who wish to modify their 3D maps. We’re making the high-resolution, 3D imagery hidden behind Google Earth accessible to developers so they can quickly use it to create immersive experiences particular to their brands without having to start from scratch with a 3D map.
To convince visitors to come, a tourist organization may design a 3D map of a national park featuring lifelike depictions of mountains, water, and trees. Or, they may create a virtual guided tour of the city using an interactive map tour of the city’s architectural monuments with markers placed to give historical facts.
Here are just a few examples of how we’re transforming maps and generating immersive experiences using AI. We’re looking forward to seeing what the developer community comes up with as we work to make Maps even more beneficial and user-friendly.
