Google wants to expand your horizons with Explore button in Maps

Google wants you to be a bit more adventurous the next time you travel or you’re out about town. Google Maps is getting an “Explore” button that shows up at the bottom right corner of the app (perhaps beside the location/compass button). This feature will show you new places to check out in the area. Aside from your location, it also takes the time of day in consideration when recommending places to you (so you won’t get a new bar’s location in the middle of the day).

Explore can also be used when you’re planning a trip to another city or country to find spots worthy of checking out. To get this feature, you would need to be signed in with location reporting and history. You just have to wait a bit for Google to throw the update to you.

 Source: Droid Life  

Google Maps for iOS gets improved search capabilities, shows appointments

Google Maps for iOS is slowly catching up with its Android counterpart with this latest update. The app now shows your search results along with descriptions as well as the location of the appointments you have (if you are a Gmail user, that is).  And in case you want to find out what’s happening in your area, the Explore view now shows you what’s nearby. If you would like to try out these new features, you can download Google Maps here.

Source: Engadget

Google Maps now lets you know the exact distance between two points

You used to be able to get distance measurements from one point to another on Google Maps but this was confined to routing directions. Now, Google Maps on the Web browser lets you know the exact distance between two points. It doesn’t matter if there is an ocean or a building or a continent between them. All you need to do is right click anywhere on Google Maps and select the “Measure distance” option. It can also measure multiple distances, too, if that’s what you need to do.

Source: The Verge

New Google Maps feature shows elevation profile for bike routes

Want to map your bike routes beforehand? Google is now letting you with a new feature they added to Google Maps on the desktop. You now not only get biking directions from Google but elevation data as well. You just need to specify the route to take, choose biking directions, and look for the elevation profile. It will show you the hills you have to climb, the number of feet you will need to climb as well.

The elevation profiles are available for all the countries that offer biking directions including, Canada, Germany, Austria, Belgium, the US, Australia, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, Norway, Great Britain, and the Netherlands. However, it currently doesn't work on the mobile version of Google Maps.

Source: Tech Crunch