Published By: Shruti Sharma

Check here: Google Maps Has Got New Features!

Google Maps has made it easier for you to navigate streets and distinguish the natural features of a place easily.

The most popular navigation app in the world has got more detail and new features.  The new visual enhancements and features are surely going to take your search experience a notch higher. Here’s all you need to know about the update.

More Colours Added to Nature

Adding more detail to its app, the search giant said “Exploring a place gives you a look at its natural features—so you can easily distinguish tan, arid beaches and deserts from blue lakes, rivers, oceans and ravines. You can know at a glance how lush and green a place is with vegetation, and even see if there are snow caps on the peaks of mountaintops."

Natural features like forests have also been colour-coded now. Deep forests will appear in dark green shade whereas patchy shrub areas would appear in a lighter shade of green. Curious about how this colour-mapping technique works? The newly designed maps have been based on satellite imagery with an application of a “new color-mapping algorithmic technique.” According to Google, “First, we use computer vision to identify natural features from our satellite imagery, looking specifically at arid, icy, forested, and mountainous regions. We then analyze these features and assign them a range of colors on the HSV color model.”

Street Maps to Get More Detailed

Moreover, Google Maps has also updated its features list for the pedestrians. Street Maps “from the biggest metropolitan areas to small, rural towns.” are also going to get more detailed in select cities, says Google. For example, users will now be able to see street information showing even minute details like accurate width and shape of a road, along with exact locations of crosswalks, sidewalks and more.

According to Google, the new maps features will be available in all 220 countries that support Google Maps, whereas the street maps update will initially be available in San Francisco, New York and London in the coming months. There are plans to add more cities to the list later on.