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Google Maps is one of the internet company's most important applications - and one of the most popular smartphone apps of all.

As early as 2014, the map application jumped the one billion users.

The platform is constantly being developed.

Last year alone, Google added 150,000 kilometers of bike lanes.

There are 50 million updates on Google Maps every day.

Now Google has announced that there will be more than 100 improvements this year that are possible with the help of artificial intelligence.

At the same time, the company gave an outlook on major innovations that users will find in the coming months.

Indoor navigation

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Users are already familiar with the Live View function, which shows pedestrians the right way by superimposing the navigation on the camera image shown on the display.

Through the use of artificial intelligence, billions of street view recordings are scanned to find out where the user is, what he sees and where he has to move.

In the future, navigation of this kind should also be possible inside buildings, specifically in places where users can quickly lose their bearings: at airports, in train stations and in shopping centers.

This should be possible in Zurich and Tokyo in a few months, and later in other cities as well.

Currently, Live View is already available in some malls in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Seattle.

Live View then shows the way to the escalators or the nearest elevator, for example.

Or to the platform, check-in counter, to the toilets or to the ATM.

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Google Maps has long since shown more than just the route.

The map application knows how much traffic is currently, whether shops are open or closed - and whether there are a lot of people traveling there.

In a few months, Maps should also know the weather and air quality.

This is important for people with allergies, for example.

New features for Google Maps also enable the weather or air quality to be displayed

Source: Google

To do this, Google accesses information from The Weather Company, AirNow.gov and the Central Pollution Board.

There is even an hourly forecast for the weather.

While the weather information will be available worldwide, the air quality information will initially only be available in Australia, India and the USA.

But other countries are to follow.

Options for the environment

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The fastest route is not always the most environmentally friendly.

In the future, Google Maps will - initially only in the USA - show the route on which the CO2 footprint is the smallest.

Here, Google is cooperating with the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Lab.

The routing model optimizes fuel consumption based on factors such as road inclination and traffic jams.

Users then have the choice of which route they want to take in the end.

The shortest route is not necessarily the best for the environment - Google Maps route planning now also takes this into account

Source: Google

For users of older vehicles, Google Maps will show warnings in the future if they choose a route on which they drive into an environmental zone that is prohibited for cars without the corresponding emissions sticker.

There are such zones, for example, in Berlin and Munich, but also in Jakarta and Amsterdam.

These warnings will be issued in Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain and Great Britain from June.

Other countries are to follow.

In addition, Google has also announced 3D previews of routes.

Users can use the animated bird's eye view in a 3D environment to display their chosen routes before they start.