Most everyone has either used the extensive information available with Google Maps or heard of it, and its capabilities are about to get even more advanced. Google has just announced upgrades that are going to be available to the public in the coming months. These upgrades include many more personalized custom settings. For example, based on past search history, reviews, and networks of friends, the map will automatically make recommendations of places it has "calculated" that you will enjoy. Another interesting feature is that if, for example, you click on a local deli, a box will appear that shows many reviews of the deli, and related search items will also pop up on your map. While there are other downloads available such as Yelp that do things along these lines, now it will all be built in to the map itself.What is more, the map has a new built-in schedule for alternative forms of transportation, so that it automatically gives directions and compares estimated times of biking, driving, or taking the train at any given time. Car accidents appear on the map in real time, and the map will reroute directions in order to take into account time delays of accidents and traffic. Finally, instead of searching for a start and end address, you can now simply tap the map at the start point and end point, and it will route your directions just the same. People interested in testing it out can sign up for an invitation here.
What do you guys think of these upgrades? Which ones do you think will be the most useful to you, or to other high-school/college aged people? As technology and smart phones keep getting more and more advanced, are all these new, specified upgrades more and more helpful? Or are they "too much information" and becoming annoying? What other upgrades with Google Maps do you foresee in the future?
2 comments:
Many features such as the automatic direction updating and a more interactive map sound very helpful and are large improvements over the old google maps. It is slightly alarming, however, how much information companies such as google have access to, not only about traffic accidents and such, but also about individual people. Rory mentioned that the new google maps can use past search history and friend networks to calculate locations you may find desirable. This may be approaching the point of "too much information" and it is a little disturbing to think of how much can be found out about you due to technology.
I completely agree with Anthony--it's unfortunate that with these upgrades comes a further loss of privacy. You may not want your friends to know where you're going just because you looked up directions! That being said, I do find it really convenient to be able to search for locations virtually anywhere. Just the other day, a few friends and I used a similar feature to meet up at a place only a few of us had been before right after school--there was no need for "following" each other. I hope that these features continue to improve because they are helpful, but I also hope that they become less "generous" with the information that they give away.
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