Pegman's Return and the Full-Screen Google Maps

I posted about Pegman's return to Google Maps two weeks ago, but I only got the update today. Sometimes it takes a few weeks until Google rolls out new features, sometimes it takes months (Gmail's pay button is an example).

While Pegman's return is a good news, the most striking thing about the latest Google Maps update is that the black bar has disappeared and the new navigation is placed on top of the map. The settings and help buttons have been moved to the bottom of the page.

Here are some screenshots from the "Welcome back, Pegman!" tour:

{ Thanks, Emanuele Bartolomucci. }

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Pegman in the New Google Maps

Pegman is back in Google Maps. When Google unveiled the new desktop interface for Google Maps, the cute Street View guide was missing.

"To discover a world of imagery at your fingertips, look no further than Pegman – your guide through Street View – who you can find in the lower right corner of the screen. Click on Pegman, and areas with Street View imagery will light up in blue. For a street-level preview, hover over any highlighted road, then click to dive into that location. As you zoom in, you'll also see blue circles indicating where you can find user-uploaded photos, including Photo Spheres – immersive, 360º panoramas taken from land, air, and sea. Click on a yellow circle to see inside restaurants, museums, and more," informs Google.

I don't see Pegman yet, but it will roll out in the next few days or weeks. I'm sure that the yellow icon will be easy to spot once the new feature is enabled by Google.

The new Google Maps added a few other useful features: you can now preview directions by clicking "preview steps" and explore 3D bird's-eye view imagery in Earth Tours. "Wherever you see the Earth Tour icon, you can click, sit back, and get a virtual tour from a soaring angle. Dive into Boston or circle the Alps." There's also the new Google app launcher that replaces the black bar and some new icons for settings and help that are placed at the bottom of the page, next to the "Explore" box.

The features are available in the new Google Maps for desktop and Google says that "more of you will begin to see the new Maps experience," which probably means that the new Maps will start to replace the classic Google Maps. I'm sure that the classic interface will still be available for a while, at least until Google adds the missing features and improves the features that require WebGL.

{ via Google Lat Long. }

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Google Maps Easter Egg for Philadelphia

Here's a cool Easter Egg: search for Philadelphia, click the map thumbnail from the right sidebar and notice that your query is replaced by "city of brotherly love", one of the nicknames of the city. "Popular nicknames for Philadelphia are Philly and The City of Brotherly Love, the latter of which comes from the literal meaning of the city's name in Greek," informs Wikipedia.

{ Thanks, Emanuele. }

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Multi-Point Directions, Available in the New Google Maps

Google added one of the missing features from the new Google Maps for the desktop and now you can enter multiple destinations when searching for directions. Just click the "+" button to add more destinations".

"Whether you're running weekend errands or planning a cross-country tour, you can plot multiple destinations for your trip with ease – now available for driving, walking and biking directions. Once you've chosen a starting point, click '+' and add stops to your route by typing in the search box or clicking on the map," informs Google.

You can also reorder the destinations using drag and drop: just drag the icon next to the location you want to move.

Google Maps now shows data from your Gmail account. "Find your flight, hotel, and restaurant reservations faster right in Maps. Just search for your departing airport or dining destination, and we'll instantly show your upcoming plans." This only works in the US, just like the similar Google Search feature.

There's also an events card that's displayed if you search for places like Radio City, O2 Arena or Arena Berlin and click "upcoming events". The same data is used in the Knowledge Graph card from Google Search.

Multi-point directions was one of the most important missing features from the new Google Maps. What other features from the classic Google Maps would you like to see in the new Google Maps?

{ via Google Lat Long }

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Directions Card in Google Search

You don't have to go to Google Maps for driving directions. A simple Google search can provide an answer much faster. Just search for [directions from START_ADDRESS to END_ADDRESS] or [from START_ADDRESS to END_ADDRESS] and you'll get a small map and the distance between the two locations. Expand the card and you'll find the driving directions. This also works in the mobile search interface for both smartphones and tablets.

Here's an example for [from London to Dublin].

Click the big arrow icon to see the driving directions right on the Google search results page:

You can open Google Maps by clicking the map thumbnail. This way, you can find alternate routes, walking directions, transit directions and more.

"These directions are for planning purposes only. You may find that construction projects, traffic, weather, or other events may cause conditions to differ from the map results, and you should plan your route accordingly. You must obey all signs or notices regarding your route," informs Google.

This feature is also useful to find the distance between two places, as well as the driving time in current traffic.

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Classic Google Maps URL

If you've switched to the new Google Maps desktop interface, you can quickly go back to the classic interface by clicking the gear icon and picking "Classic Maps" or by clicking "Help & Feedback" at the top of the page and picking "Return to classic Google Maps". You'll see a message that asks you if you want to permanently go back to the old interface or temporarily switch.

Another option is to bookmark this URL: Classic Google Maps (https://www.google.com/maps?output=classic). It will always send you to the standard Maps interface and you won't have to open the new interface first.

Why would you switch to the old interface? Maybe you need to use the more advanced directions that let you add more than 2 destinations, maybe you like the terrain/photos/webcam layers or Maps Labs features like the distance measurement tools or the LatLng tooltip, maybe you miss the Pegman icon you could drag and drop to switch to Street View or you want to customize the printing format for directions.

You've probably noticed that the new maps style (with new colors, icons, labels, tooltips) is now also available in the classic Google Maps. If you hide the sidebar, you can make it look more like the new Google Maps.

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Faster Google Maps Navigation

The new version of the Google Maps app for Android made turn-by-turn navigation more cumbersome. Google removed the navigation icon and integrated the navigation feature in the Maps app, instead of using a separate app. The new interface is more difficult to use because it requires more taps and buttons are really small. There are also many missing navigation features: layers, Street View, alternate routes.

Fortunately, the Google Maps app lets you start the navigation mode a lot faster. "Select a place, then tap and hold on the transportation icon. This will automatically open voice guided turn-by-turn GPS navigation and you'll be ready to go," informs Google.

It's not an obvious feature, but it lets you skip 2 screens. You first had to pick a route, see the list of directions and then tap "Start".

This tip also works in the Google Maps app for iPhone and iPad, so it's not limited to Android.

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Panoramio Redesign

Google's Panoramio service has been redesigned and now looks just like a Google Maps extension. The new interface (codenamed "acrylic") is borrowed from Google Maps Views. You can go back to the old UI by clicking "Return to classic Panoramio".

"We've made photos the hero on the page while still keeping the important features that people enjoy. On the photo page, by far the most popular on the site, we've made the photo over three times bigger! We've also made thumbnails on the profile page and the world map significantly bigger. We know that Panoramio members have used the existing design for years, so the 'classic' version will still be available for a little while," mentions the Panoramio blog.

Panoramio has a lot of great photos from all over the world and it's an important source of high-quality photos for Google Maps and Google Earth. That's the reason why Google acquired the service back in 2007.

Adam Lasnik, a former Google Search Evangelist, is now Program Manager at Panoramio and his team launched Google Maps Views. "Many of the same people (including me!) work on both products, but Views and Panoramio currently serve different purposes: Views is a community for sharing photo spheres, while Panoramio is a community for sharing traditional photos," says Adam.

{ Thanks, Georg. }

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Google Maps for Mobile Adds Waze Incident Reports

The latest major update of the Google Maps app for Android and iOS added incident reports and many people wondered if the data was obtained from Waze, a service acquired by Google in June. Google used other providers, but it now also uses Waze data.

"Users of Google Maps for Mobile will now benefit from real time incident reports from Waze users. This means when Wazers report accidents, construction, road closures and more on Waze, the updates will also appear on the Google Maps app for Android and iOS in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Switzerland, UK and the US," informs Google LatLong.

Google Maps only shows this message next to the traffic incident: "reported via Waze app".

Waze added some Google features: local search results powered by Google Maps, Google Street View and Google satellite imagery in Waze Map Editor.

"Waze users report millions of blockages and accidents per month. 'I think it will have a pretty big impact,' said Brian McClendon, VP of Google Maps. 'A big fraction of GMM users will see these.' As McClendon described it in an interview Monday, Waze will continue to be focused on two core things: its community, and helping people who commute. As for Google Maps' perceived strengths? Those are search, exploring, finding businesses around you, and offering more imagery, according to McClendon," reports AllThingsD.

Will Waze continue to exist as a standalone app? That's obvious. Google could have easily added a "report incident" feature to Google Maps, but not many people would have used it. It takes a lot of time to foster a community of people that manually add data. Google usually obtains data automatically. For example, the Google Maps traffic feature uses aggregated data from users. "Your phone sends anonymous bits of data back to Google describing how fast you're moving. When we combine your speed with the speed of other phones on the road, across thousands of phones moving around a city at any given time, we can get a pretty good picture of live traffic conditions".

Panoramio is a similar service acquired by Google and it still exists after so many years. Panoramio's high-quality photos are added to Google Earth and Google Maps.

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Google Maps Views

There's a new community site for Google Maps and it's called Views. It's a place where you can upload panoramic images created using the Photo Sphere feature, which is limited to Android 4.2 and Nexus devices.

"The photo sphere camera mode on your Android phone makes it easy to capture a series of photos and automatically turn them into a seamless 360º experience. You can also turn your DSLR camera panoramas into photo spheres," explains Google. This page has more information about the photo sphere mode and about creating panoramic images manually.

Google Maps Views has a camera button that lets you add photos from Google+. You can also use Android's share feature and share a photo from the gallery with Google Maps, so that it's quickly uploaded. Google creates a page like this one with all your photo spheres.

Google Maps Views showcases popular photo spheres and some special Street View collections, including landmarks (Eiffel Tower), natural wonders (Grand Canyon), museums, arenas, restaurants and small businesses. You can also use the search box and find a list of popular photos and top photographers for that location.

Photos spheres don't replace Street View, they only complement Street View with a fun, fresh and personal perspective that captures the the world around you.

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Try the New Google Maps (No Invitation Required)

You can now use the new Google Maps interface without requesting an invite. That's a great news, even though invitations weren't hard to get.

You first need to go to maps.google.com/preview and click "Try Now". Google explains that "the new Google Maps draws you a tailored map for every search and click you make. So whatever you're trying to find or wherever you're trying to go, you'll always have a map highlighting the things that matter most."

So what happens after clicking "Try Now"? You see this message: "Sign in with your Google Account to try the new Google Maps."

While search results are better if you are signed in and you also use Google+, it's strange to see that you need to sign in. After all, the mobile apps for Google Maps work even when you're not signed in.

After signing in, Google shows another message: "Almost there... During this preview, we may email you with product updates or to request your feedback. Please let us know what you think!"

Then you can finally use the new Google Maps.

You can sign out and Google Maps will continue to work.

I hope that the new Google Maps won't require a Google Account (or Google+) when it will replace the existing interface. Just like Google Search, Google Maps works well even when it doesn't return personalized results. Google found a way to personalize search results when you're not logged in, maybe Google Maps will do the same.

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Google Maps for iPad

Almost one year after Google Maps was removed from iOS and 7 months after Google released a Maps app for iPhone, you can finally install the Google Maps app on an iPad and actually use it. Installing the iPhone app on an iPad wasn't a good idea, so the web app was a good alternative.

It's interesting to notice that the new Maps UI was first included in the Google Maps for iPhone. After that, Google used it in Google Maps Engine Lite, then in the new desktop Google Maps, in the updated app for Android and now the circle is closed.

The updated Google Maps app for iPhone and iPad looks just like the Android app and has almost the same features: incident reporting, dynamic rerouting, integration with Zagat and Google Offers, Google+ recommendations, the "explore" feature that lets you find great places without searching for them, biking directions and navigation, offline maps (type OK maps in the search box).

To open the "explore" section, tap the search box and select "explore". Then you can tap "eat", "drink", "shop", "play" or "sleep" and find a lot of useful suggestions. Many of them are influenced by the reviews of the people from your Google+ circles.

The full-screen map provides an immersive experience.

There's support for incident reports, although it's not clear if the new feature has anything to do with the Waze acquisition.

Google Maps still supports layers, but not all the layers from the old Android app. There are layers for traffic, public transit, bicycling and satellite maps.

When you first launch the app, Google Maps shows the following screen. The option to improve Google Maps by sharing anonymous location data is enabled by default. This means that Google no longer has to rely on Android devices to get traffic data. A similar option was displayed last year, when Google Maps for iOS was launched, so it's not new.

A year ago, things were very different: Google Maps for Android was a lot more powerful than the built-in Maps app for iOS powered by Google Maps data. Now Google Maps apps for Android and iOS have almost the same features. Can you find some features that are only available in the Android app?

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New Google Maps in Your Mobile Browser

The mobile web app for Google Maps now uses the new map styles from the updated Google Maps for desktop. The same map styles are also used by the latest version of Google Maps for Android.

While the mobile web app uses the new map styles, it still has the old interface, but that will probably change soon. There's also a strange "null" message below the map, which shows that there are still some bugs that need to be fixed.

If you've upgraded to Google Maps 7 for Android and you miss the My Maps feature, you can still find it in the mobile web app: click the arrow icon next to the search box, select "My Places" and then click "Maps".

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OK Maps, Cache This Map

The latest version of Google Maps for Android doesn't officially include the feature that allowed you to cache maps and use them offline. You won't find it in the settings or in the app's interface.

Fortunately, there's a way to preload maps, but it's not intuitive: type "OK maps" in the search box and tap the search icon. You'll see this message: "pre-loading maps" or an error message: "the on-screen area map is too large, zoom in first". If you see the error message, zoom in and type "OK maps" again. It's annoying to this again and again.

Another downside is that you can't manage your offline maps. Here's a screenshot from the old Google Maps: you could quickly find cached maps, check how much space they use, rename them or delete them.

Hopefully, Google will add the offline feature to the interface in a future update and make it even better. It would be nice to save bigger maps and to use the offline maps for local search, directions and navigation.

Update: A new version of Google Maps added this option when you tap the search box: "Make this map available offline". It's less cumbersome to use, but still a patchwork.

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New Google Maps App for Android

When Google launched the Maps app for iPhone, many said that it looks better than the Android app. The new interface is now available in Google Maps 7.0 for Android. The app requires Android 4.0.3 and will be rolled out gradually in the coming weeks, but you can download it using these links.

The new Google Maps app has a simplified interface that focuses on the map. It has a lot of things in common with the new Google Maps for desktop, including the missing features. For now, there's no support for My Maps (it will be added later), many layers are missing, Labs features are no longer available. Map caching is now a hidden feature: type "OK maps" in the search box and the app will preload the map you're currently viewing. Google Latitude has been discontinued and replaced by a Google+ feature. In my limited testing, the app was pretty slow and laggy, so Google still has some work to do to optimize the app.

On the plus side, you get a Google Maps interface optimized for tablets, incident reports, dynamic rerouting and some integration with Zagat and Google Offers. "You can now see reports of problems on the road that you can tap to see incident details. While on the road, Google Maps will also alert you if a better route becomes available and reroute you to your destination faster."

There's also a new version of Google Maps for iOS that will be available soon and will add support for iPad.

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