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Last year, Google released a completely new Google Maps interface for desktop, but made it opt-in. Since then, the Google Maps team fixed bugs, improved performance and added some of the missing features (Pegman, My Location, short URLs, multi-point directions). The next step is obvious: the new Google Maps will become the default version.

"Over the coming weeks, the new Google Maps will make its way onto desktops around the world. Many of you have been previewing it since its debut last May, and thanks to your helpful feedback we're ready to make the new Maps even more widely available," informs Google.

The new Google Maps promised to bring an immersive experience, a personalized map that shows what's relevant and helps you make smarter decisions using recommendations from your Google+ circles. It's a simplified interface that's closer to the mobile UI. Google removed some of the features from the classic interface and focused on the basics: a map you're encouraged to explore, unified directions that show the best options, instant search, permalinks, panoramic images, Google Earth and Street View without plugins.


Classic Google Maps is still available: you can switch by clicking the "?" icon at the bottom of the page and selecting "Return to classic Google Maps". You'll see this message: "You have switched back to classic Google Maps for this session. Remember this choice for next time?". Click "Yes" to always go to the old interface when visiting Google Maps.

The new Google Maps for desktop brings back the "show my location" feature. Just click the button next to zoom in/out and Google Maps will show your location. You'll probably see a dialog that asks for your permission to send your location to Google.

"If you're unable to activate My Location, you may have previously denied permission for Google Maps to use your location. Or, your browser may have experienced an error in determining your location. To have My Location work, you must first grant permission then let Maps get your location," informs Google.


Google Maps URLs include more information: the name of a place, latitude, longitude.


In other related news, the new Google Maps will replace the classic Google Maps in the near future. Here's a message displayed by Google: "Search, navigate, and explore with the new Google Maps, coming to your desktop soon."


{ Thanks, Jérôme. }

The Pegman icon from the new Google Maps looks different: it now has a Santa hat. The classic Google Maps still shows the standard icon.



Check this Google+ album to see almost 200 outfits created when Pegman was added to the new Google Maps.


{ Thanks, Mukil. }

The new version of Google Maps constantly brings back features from the classic Google Maps, which shows that it's almost ready to become the default interface. The new Google Maps shows a link for your custom maps below the search box. If you click the link, you should see a list of custom maps created with Maps Engine Lite or My Maps.

You can access your five most recent My Maps and Maps Engine maps in the new Google Maps. To quickly get to your custom maps:

* Open Google Maps and make sure you're signed-in.
* Click into the searchbox.
* Click the 'My custom maps' suggestion that appears below.
* Click the name of the map you want to view. Your map will either open in My Maps or Maps Engine.

You can also still access all of your My Maps and My Places content (available through classic Maps). To get there from the new Google Maps, click the Gear icon gear menu in the bottom right and select My Places.

Google Maps Views has a new feature that lets you connect your photo spheres and create constellations. "By connecting your photo spheres you can create even more immersive, 360° views called constellations. You can choose to add your 'constellations' to Google Maps, so people can explore your favorite places on Maps. Keep your constellations private or share them with others on Google Maps or Views," informs Google.

Just go to your profile in Google Maps Views, select the photo spheres and click "connect images". You can create something like this:


This article has more information about changing photo sphere locations, rotating photo spheres in the right direction and connecting them. You can use multiple photo spheres to create your own Street View imagery.

Here are some examples: Google Boulder, Android Building, Carrick-A-Reed, Dunluce Castle, Asilomar Beach. Press the arrow icons to move between photo spheres.

{ via Google LatLong Blog }

One of the cool things about the new Google Maps is that the URL is updated automatically when you navigate the map, so you can simply copy it from the address bar. Unfortunately, the URL is still huge and a short version is often useful.

Now you can get a short URL by clicking the gear icon at the bottom of the page, selecting "share and embed map" and checking "short URL". I think the short URL should be displayed by default, since the long version can be found in the address bar. "By using a short URL, you can squeeze a long Google Maps link into fewer characters to leave more room to say what's on your mind," explains Google.



{ via +Google Maps }

Last week, Google announced that you can now embed maps in the new Google Maps interface. Just click the gear icon at the bottom of the page and select "embed map". You can pick from the 3 sizes that are available or click "custom size" to enter your favorite width and height.


The most interesting thing about the new embeds? "This map is built for you. When you view this map on your site, you'll see your saved places on the map. Your site's visitors won't see those saved places – they'll see a map built for them." This only happens if you see your profile icon in the top right corner of the map. You can star locations in an embedded map and they'll be saved to your Google account.


"You can embed a basic map, driving directions, or a local search into your website or blog from the new Google Maps," informs Google.

The new Google Maps for desktop updated the local search card and now shows the top 3 results instead of only one. You can still go to the list of top results or check the results from the map, but the card is more convenient. Google is the king of search, so people expect to find a hierarchy. The list of top results is one click away, but many people will never find it.



{ via Jérôme }

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. }

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. }

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. }

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 }

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.

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.

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.

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. }

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.

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.

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.

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?