Google rolls out AI-based immersive view for its Maps: Details inside

The Google Maps immersive feature is based on AI and fuses street view with the aerial view. It creates a digital model for places and offers layers of data such as traffic updates, weather updates and how busy a spot in town is for complete details. The app also received a time slider to let users see what the area looks like at different times.

Google informed through its blog post that the feature is available in London, San Francisco. New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo. However, it did not mention about rolling it in India as of now.

Google states in a blog post, “Last year, we shared our vision for the future of Google Maps — an immersive, intuitive map that reimagines how you explore and navigate, while helping you make more sustainable choices. Today we’re demonstrating how AI is bringing this vision to life, with updates for immersive view and Live View, along with new features for electric vehicle (EV) drivers and people who walk, bike or ride public transit.”

The company also announced its Search with Live View feature for indoor and outdoor navigation based on AI. It helps users to find parks, restaurants, ATMs and more by just following powered arrows based on augmented reality. In the near future, the service will be expanded to Madrid, Dublin and Barcelona.

“Now, we’re embarking on the largest expansion of indoor Live View to date, bringing it to more than 1,000 new airports, train stations, and malls in Barcelona, Berlin, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Melbourne, Paris, Prague, São Paulo, Singapore, Sydney, and Taipei in the coming months,” said Google.

Meanwhile, soon after Alphabet Inc’s new chatbot shared inaccurate information in a promotional video, the Google parent company lost $100 billion in market value. Its shares crashed as much as 9% during regular trading, while its rival Microsoft shares rose around 3% before paring gains.