Google’s new Maps feature that we told about earlier today is officially a reality. So many things to list and such little brain power to remember them all. Let’s try and cover the stuff that got the most reaction from the crowd. There have been some major improvements to the 3D rendering. Getting to see St. Peter’s Basilica in 3D at I/O on Google Maps is excellent, but what really took the cake was the integration of user photos of the Basilica. By clicking on a user submitted Geo-tagged photo, Google Maps now helps to bring the interior of the Basilica on other wonders of the world right into your house through the browser.
And of course like all of the other neat services, Google Maps can now become more personalized as you use it more and more. Picture this: you see a restaurant that may be of interest to you in a particular area, so Google Maps will showcase only the important items like specific roads or landmarks it is for you to get to the restaurant, so Maps will only show the information to you that matters most. Oh and you have friends that may +1 a restaurant or locale, so Google Maps will begin offering you recommendations based off of your friends’ interests. Pretty cool indeed. So the more you interact with the map, the better it gets. When you set your Home and Work locations, star favorite places, write reviews and share with friends, Google Maps will build even more useful maps with recommendations for places you might enjoy.
Another feature that garnered a lot of applause from the crowd at I/O was the new planet view for day and night. The day view shows you the world with real time clouds, and the night view brings you a lite up Earth as seen from high above. Google I/O is moving right along and keeping up with everything they announce in the Keynote is taxing to say the least. Good thing this event goes on for the rest of the week and good thing we have our main man Rob Nazarian there to get all the details for you.
Keep it locked here and we will bring you the rest of the Google Maps story as we get.
source: Google Maps Blog | Maps Desktop Preview
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