Google will introduce new Maps features for cyclists and to make location sharing more useful. Cyclists are shown what percentage of their route has marked bike paths, for example. Location sharing may be accompanied by notifications at specific locations.
Maps can also provide information about a bicycle route, for example if users cycle on a main road, or if they have to climb stairs by bicycle at a certain point. There will also be a warning if the route is very busy with car traffic, or if there is a steep climb involved. Maps previously showed a graph in supported areas that shows the height of the cycling route.
Location sharing has also been supporting Maps for some time. Users can designate another user if they want and that person can always see the location of the other person’s device at all times or for a limited time. What is now being added are notifications based on locations. They appear when a user arrives and leaves. Users who enable location sharing can still prohibit notifications about it.
Google paints the example of a concert. A group that goes there and shares the locations among themselves can set a notification for the concert hall, after which it is easier for that group to coordinate when entering and leaving the building. Another example is of a user going for a walk in the wilderness: another user can then set a notification for the parking lot from where the walk starts and ends. In this way, the person sees that the walker has returned safely from his journey.
A final feature that Google is introducing is a comprehensive bird’s-eye view of “nearly a hundred of the world’s most popular landmarks.” Users can rotate 360 degrees around these locations. If such a perspective is available for a location, users will find it in the photo gallery. Google calls this the prelude to its immersive view, where users can fly virtually like a bird over a three-dimensional city, zoom in on locations and also view them at different times and under different weather conditions. The tech giant says the feature will be available later this year in Los Angeles, London, New York, San Francisco and Tokyo. Other cities will follow ‘soon’.
The bird’s-eye view images and location notifications are currently being rolled out worldwide and the novelties for cyclists will follow ‘in the coming weeks in the hundreds of cities where bicycle navigation is available’, according to Google.
Click on the picture for a gif of the bird’s eye view images