Immersive View

We’re kicking it off with a bang with what I think might be the biggest breakout Google Maps feature: Immersive View. You can use Immersive View in Google Maps for your routes to know before you go.

Immersive View combines street view, satellite imagery, and live info like weather and traffic. So let’s say you want to walk from this espresso shop in Seattle to the Space Needle, but you want a more detailed view. Tap on the Immersive View option in the bottom left of your map. You’re instantly placed in Immersive View, where you can explore your route in 3D. Tap the play button to be taken on a bird’s eye view of your route, so you can preview what to expect and take note of any landmarks on the way. You can even zoom in or out as you wish. There’s also a clock icon near the bottom right. If you tap on this, it opens the time slider where you can slide through different times of the day and dates to see simulated weather conditions. How cool is this? When you’re done in Immersive View, you’ll simply tap the X in the top left to close out.

Lens

Another AI goodie is that Lens is now available in Google Maps. That’s right, you can literally point your phone at something and know what it is and where you are.

Once you get somewhere and need to orient yourself, simply tap on the camera icon in the search bar at the top. This is Lens in Maps, which used to be called Search with Live View. It uses AI and augmented reality to help you quickly acclimate yourself. You lift your phone and can pan around to find information about nearby ATMs, transit stations, restaurants, coffee shops, and stores. How cool is this?

Alright, if you’re finding this video valuable, please remember to give it a like and subscribe for more content just like this. I’ve got a bunch of Google Maps videos listed for you in the description below. And I’ve also released an Everything Google course where you can learn how to master your entire Google Workspace suite of apps. That link is in the description below as well.

Search Updates

But moving on to a couple of search updates. You’re now able to find inspiration with photo-first search results. This is another new AI feature that may still be rolling out to you based on your location.

Now, when you search in Google Maps for specific things, say like cherry blossoms or dog-friendly hikes, you’ll notice a new ‘discover through photos’ section. Simply scroll through the results and tap on a photo to learn more and to navigate straight there if you wish.

Conversational Search

But that’s not the only AI-powered search update coming to Google Maps. Rolling out as we speak will be a very Gemini-esque conversational search functionality right in Maps. So I want to show you an example of this from Google.

So, if you’re in San Francisco, you can tell Google Maps what you’re looking for, like ‘places with a vintage vibe,’ and Google Maps will pull up information about nearby businesses that fit that vibe, along with photos, ratings, and reviews. You’ll also notice results are organized into helpful categories like clothing stores or vinyl shops. But cooler yet, you’ll also be able to continue the conversation, so you could say ‘how about lunch,’ and Maps will suggest places that match the vibe you’re looking for.

Navigation Improvements

And, rolling out hopefully this year to more countries, are navigation improvements. These improvements will include improved lane details to know when to exit the highway, as well as more realistic buildings to help you get your bearings a bit better.

Plus, in the US, we’ll soon see HOV lanes on our routes, and some European countries are finally getting Google’s AI-powered speed limit info. Amen!

So those are my favorite Google Maps AI tricks. Do you have these AI-powered Maps features yet? Let everyone know in the comments below.