Google Maps is arguably one of Google’s best online services. If Gmail went away, the world would be a little upset. If Google+ died, no one would care. But if Google Maps went offline, chaos would ensue. That’s obviously never going to happen as the search giant keeps on improving their mapping functionality. Today, on the Google Lat Long blog, the company unveiled three new features that will be rolling out over time.
The first is multiple destinations. If you’re going to go on a road trip, chances are you need to make multiple pitstops. See this monument, then that museum, then have lunch at that place everyone talked about on Trip Advisor, and so on and so forth. That’s now coming, starting ASAP actually.
The second feature is saved searches. Use Google Maps to search for the airport, your hotel at your final destination, what have you, and those searches will be there for you in Google Maps for Android when you open up the app. For reasons I don’t understand, this is U.S. only for now, and only on Google Maps in English.
The third and final feature is a super neat one. Say you need to go to a club in town because your favorite band is performing there. When you search for that venue, you’ll not only see it on a map, but you’ll see that venue’s upcoming events. You might find out another band you like is playing a month from now, all while trying to figure out how to get there.
While I can’t speak as to the robustness of Apple Maps on iOS or Nokia’s Here Maps on Windows Phone, I do admit that I’m mighty impressed with what Google has done, and even if they decide to ruin Maps by loading it up to the gills with ads, I’ll still happily use it.
