On the heels of a recent update for Android (yep, Android users always get the first update to Google maps) an update for iPhone and iPad is now available. The update boasts an enhanced UI and a dedicated new iPad experience.
So, what’s New in Version 2.0?
- Optimized iPad experience: A dedicated tablet design brings all the features of Google Maps, including Street View, to a larger screen, which makes exploring the world from the comfort of your living room engaging and fun
- Enhanced Navigation: When you’re stuck in traffic and wondering what the holdup is, use Google Maps on your iPhone to get live incident reports on road closures, construction, accidents, and more.
- Biking directions and navigation: For you bike enthusiasts out there, get turn-by-turn directions and voice guided navigation for more than 330,000 miles of trails, paths, and bike lanes around the world
- Explore is a fast and easy way to visually browse and discover new places without typing a single letter. Simply tap the search box and you’ll see cards showing great local places to eat, drink, shop, play, and sleep.
- Reviews, Zagat and Offers: There’s a new 5.0 star rating system that gives you a quick read on how your friends and others rate places like restaurants, bars, and cafes
See Google Maps blog and get the update on iTunes
Users of "maps" on PC (or Mac) will also find a completely new experience, most notably with local search results. For example, searching for a specific place in a city (like Sushi in Boston MA) will quickly provide the user with a nice map and all relevant places displayed very nicely along with relevant information. Click on one of the hits and the search box will flip and provide you with options to see more information like a Street View, inside views, reviews, and photos. Being logged into your Google account while using maps will yield added value to the users. What I like about this is the seamless experience you get when using on PC or mobile. All your search history is saved and made available so if you do a search for direction from an airport to your hotel when at the office, you’ll have access to the same search results when you fly there and pull up maps on your mobile – handy! Save a place for later and it will be stored in your account and available from all your Google services.
Finally, clicking on the photos results in local search turns up a really nice experience where visitors can browse all your photos in a nice gallery setting. This is huge for business owners and I would encourage every brick and mortar shop owner to take ownership of their business listing with Google (See Google for business http://www.google.com/+/business/) and make sure that current, accurate, relevant information is made available along with some awesome, high res photos!
Oh, and something of interest, there’s also reports that offline maps are available in this latest update, however, this hasn’t been reported in the official maps update specification list. According to this blog post, a hidden gem is there and once you locate how to do it you’ll love it! See more about offline maps in Google Maps HERE – Cnet is also reporting on this, however, when I try it on iPad all I get is a list of places in Oklahoma!
The new Google Maps
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