How Google Maps is Transforming Travel and Navigation

Categories: APPs

What is Google Maps?

Because of its cutting-edge capabilities, Google Maps now serves as a powerful companion in addition to helping you with navigation. Once you've arrived at your location, Google Maps' new functions can make it easier for you to navigate the area and relive your trip's highlights when you come home.

A consumer application and web mapping platform provided by Google is called Google Maps. It provides route planning for travel by foot, car, bike, air (in beta), and public transportation as well as satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360-degree interactive panorama views of streets (Street View), and real-time traffic conditions. More than one billion individuals worldwide utilised Google Maps each month as of 2020.

The original version of Google Maps was a C++ desktop application created by the Rasmussen brothers at Where 2 Technologies. Google bought the business in October 2004 and turned it into a web application. Google Maps was introduced in February 2005 following the integration of a real-time traffic analyzer and a business that specialised in geospatial data visualisation. The front end of the service makes use of JavaScript, XML, and Ajax. With the use of its API, Google Maps makes it possible for users to embed its maps on other people's websites and provides a global business and organisation finder. 

Google Map Maker, which allowed users to update and update the service's global mapping cooperatively, was halted in March 2017. However, the business stated that the features would be moved to the Google Local Guides programme, so crowd sourced contributions to Google Maps were not halted.

In September 2008, Google Maps for Android and iOS devices was released. It includes GPS turn-by-turn navigation and specific parking help capabilities. With more than 54% of all smartphone owners using it in 2013, it was discovered to be the most widely used smartphone app in the world. Along with various other Google products like YouTube, Chrome, Gmail, Search, and Google Play, the app reportedly had two billion Android users in 2017.

With the help of Google Maps' route planner, users may identify the best routes for travelling by car, taking the bus, walking, or biking. In order to adopt GTFS (General Transit Feed Specification), Google has worked with more than 800 public transport companies internationally, opening the data out to outside parties. Thanks to an upgrade from October 2019, the app can now display users' transit routes. The eyes-free walking navigation and incognito mode functions were already available. Bike share routes were offered in a July 2020 update.

In order to depict the pace of moving traffic on a given road, Google started displaying traffic data as a coloured overlay on top of highways and motorways in 2007. Live traffic maps are generated using a huge number of mobile users' GPS-determined positions, which are obtained through crowdsourcing.

According to Google, the speed and location data it gathers to estimate traffic conditions is anonymous. Users can choose not to share their location with Google Maps through the settings on each phone. "Once you disable or opt out of My Location, Maps will no longer send radio information back to Google servers to estimate the approximate location of your handset," said Google.

Google Street View, a function of Google Maps that offers 360° panoramic street-level views of various locales, was introduced on May 25, 2007, by Google. Only five American cities were represented in the film as of its premiere date. Since then, it has spread to thousands of venues worldwide. Google started mapping college campuses and the nearby trails and walkways in July 2009.

Even though the panoramic images are exclusively shot on public streets, privacy concerns about the unedited nature of Street View led to considerable debate after its launch. Since then, Google has automated facial recognition to obscure licence plates and faces.

On the Hudson River Greenway in New York City, Google Maps Street View Trekker backpack is being used. Google debuted Google Underwater Street View in late 2014, which featured a 3D version of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, which is 2,300 kilometres (1,400 mi) long. Special cameras that rotate 360 degrees and take pictures every three seconds are used to capture the photos. Street View navigation of the International Space Station's interior rooms became available in 2017 for both Google Maps and Google Earth.

In terms of travel and navigation, Google Maps has been a game-changer. 

Here are a few areas where Google Maps has made a big difference:

(i) Accurate and Detailed Mapping: Google Maps offers thorough and current mapping information for all of the world's cities, villages, and even isolated locations. It provides real-time traffic updates, street views, and satellite data to help users visualise and plan their travels.

(ii) Turn-by-Turn Navigation: Turn-by-turn directions are one of Google Maps' most notable features. It gives drivers step-by-step guidance and efficiently directs them to their destinations by utilising GPS and real-time traffic data. Navigation has been made much easier thanks to this feature, especially in strange places.

(iii) Alternative Routes and Traffic Information: To assist users avoid traffic and save time, Google Maps analyses current traffic conditions and suggests alternate routes. It offers customers the best route given the circumstances, taking into account things like traffic congestion, road closures, and accidents.

(iv) Public Transportation Integration: Google Maps incorporates public transport schedules, such as those for buses, trains and subways, into its mapping platform. It is simple for users to plan their trips using several public transport options, explore transit routes, and get anticipated arrival times. As a result, using public transport has become easier and more convenient.

(v) Local Business Information: Google Maps offers complete facts about nearby businesses, including their addresses, phone numbers, opening times, and client testimonials. With the help of user-generated ratings and reviews, this tool has completely changed how tourists and locals find nearby restaurants, hotels, stores, and other services.

(vi) Street View: A 360-degree panoramic image of locales at street level is provided by Google Maps' Street image function. Users can visually navigate around new surroundings, digitally explore a location, and examine landmarks. For travellers, Street View has developed into a priceless tool for previewing destinations before going there, increasing their sense of comfort and confidence.

(vii) Indoor Mapping: Google Maps has added indoor mapping of retail centres, airports, museums, and other sizable indoor spaces to its repertoire in recent years. This feature makes it easier for customers to navigate in complex locations by helping them locate particular stores, gates, and amenities inside these complexes.

(viii) Personalized Recommendations: To offer individualised suggestions for places to go, dine, and explore, Google Maps makes use of user data and preferences. It takes into account elements like user reviews, past search history, and location information to make personalised suggestions, making travel preparation easier and more suited to personal interests.

Conclusion:

With its comprehensive mapping, turn-by-turn directions, real-time traffic updates, and connectivity with public transportation, Google Maps has fundamentally changed how people travel and navigate. Users now have access to a wealth of knowledge that makes it simpler to explore new locations, find nearby companies, and confidently go across uncharted territory.