News on Google Maps for the celebration of his 15th birthday

It was last February when the popular map platform celebrated 15 years.
The Google Maps service that has been running since 2005 has been growing year by year until it currently reaches the figure of one billion active users per month. On the occasion of its 15th birthday, it has announced a series of changes within the platform, starting with the logo image and accompanied by new functions that promise to improve the user experience in planning routes by car, public transport and foot. Turning navigation through your application into an experience that users can check with the new platform update.

Change of Google Maps logo

For the creation of the new logo, they were inspired by the pin-shaped app location marker, a key element within Google Maps and to develop this design.
What the company wanted to reflect with the change of its logo has been the evolution that the service has had throughout its history to create maps of the world.

5 New features within the app

New features loaded with favorable options for users who are drivers and pedestrians on the move.

Function to explore

With this new function, what Google Maps intends is to give a series of recommendations, based on the location where the user is, will create a list of nearby recommended places. From museums, parks, bars or restaurants.
From the recommendations, users will find information, ratings, reviews and other suggestions. Very practical if you are traveling, since the application will highlight the most relevant places.

Usual displacements

From this option, daily trips can be configured to receive updated and real-time information about traffic.
A good option to choose the road in the most efficient way, since the application will recommend alternative routes if it detects delays, poor condition or problems in the roads.

The option of "saved"

In this section, users' favorite locations can be saved.
A very practical tool to organize the places that users want to visit soon or places to highlight in a city. Within this option, a list can be created to order the places in order of preference.

Contribute

Users will be able to share the knowledge of certain places having the possibility of providing details about the quality of a restaurant, the state of the roads or addresses that do not appear on the maps. Being able to leave reviews or photos of the places.
A help for other users of the application who want to see a second opinion before reaching the indicated destination.

Option of news

From this option you will be able to see which are the fashionable or must-visit places according to the recommendation of experts and editors.
Selecting a place on the map, from the application will appear the news chosen for the user.
From this option you can also establish a conversation with certain businesses to answer your questions or even make reservations.

Information on public transport with flow predictions

The platform has added new functionality to help users stay informed when traveling on public transport.
The flow predictions function is based on trips that users have previously made to check the status of the capacity within the chosen public transport. This option may vary depending on the public transport companies and the countries.

Live View improvements

Live View was introduced in Google Maps in 2019, in order to help the user with the choice of the path when undertaking a route on foot. It works by combining the real images of the application with Street View and with the automatic learning of the sensors of the mobile device to show what is around, it will indicate the way with indications in augmented reality.

With this platform update, Google Maps Live View has also had improvements within its functionalities, now it will have better assistance every time you search for a place. Users will be able to quickly see how far they are and in what direction they are from where they want to go.