If you have a working smartphone in your pocket, you can hardly get lost in this world. The free navigation app Google Maps almost always knows where to go. Anyone who travels a lot and explores the planet on their own will definitely appreciate this guide. Google is now preparing to make its application a little more convenient. In a current blog post, the group promises a number of innovations that should enrich the app in the coming weeks and months.
The first update is primarily aimed at friends of the well-groomed road trip. Sooner or later, anyone who leaves Germany will inevitably come across toll roads. Tourists often only realize what it costs to use these paid routes when it is already too late to turn around. Google Maps should remedy this in the future and display the prices directly in the app. This makes travel planning easier and prevents nasty surprises. The feature should still be available for almost 2,000 toll roads in April 2022 – but initially limited to the USA, India, Japan and Indonesia. Other countries are being planned.
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Maps with traffic lights and stop signs
Innovation number 2 is intended to make it easier to explore foreign areas in general. Google promises much more detailed maps and navigation instructions. The app will soon show the locations of traffic lights and stop signs, for example. Google Maps also shows the outlines of surrounding buildings to make orientation easier. In selected cities, the application even visualizes the shape of streets including traffic islands and central reservations. The new navigation maps should be available in selected countries via Android, Android Auto, iOS and Apple CarPlay in the coming weeks. Which countries these are remains unclear.
The last batch of optimizations is limited to Google Maps for iOS. With the help of a new widget, you can pin the navigation instructions for a route to your home screen. This way you don’t have to open the program to get directions and information. The manufacturer has reduced the size of the widget for the Google Maps search. Both innovations should be available in the coming weeks. Users of an Apple Watch will be happy to be able to start navigation via Google Maps directly on their watch without having to use their iPhone. Last but not least, you can control Google Maps in the future via the voice assistant Siri or via the Spotlight search. According to Google, however, you will have to wait until summer 2022 for this option.
