Google announced the launch of a new update to the Google Maps service that carried with it many practical and important features, most notably the so-called "Immersive View".
Specialized sites confirmed that the immersive view service for Google Maps works in cities such as Los Angeles, New York and even Berlin, but has a limited number of users.
This feature was first announced at the Google I/O conference in 2022, where the company promised users that they will be able to see detailed drawings of some of the world's most famous cities in Google Maps in the near future, and this feature provides a completely new way to explore places and learn about many cities around the world.
The new feature uses computer vision and artificial intelligence techniques to integrate images through Street View, providing a three-dimensional surround view of the city or place a person wants to recognize.
By default, a person can fly over a specific city and view it from above, and descend to wander its streets or malls to explore it from the inside as well.
Useful information about traffic congestion or weather can also be found in a number of large cities such as New York, London, San Francisco, Tokyo and Berlin, and the service should later expand to other cities such as Amsterdam, Florence, Dublin and Venice.
Despite Google's announcement of activating the feature, few users have been able to test the feature in the Google Maps app so far. Earlier this week, at least one Reddit user shared that they had access to the immersive viewing service, and comments from others said they did not have access to the feature.
The Gizmodo tech team in New York City and outside San Francisco tried to access the feature, and only two of the team accessed the feature, according to a report published by the site.
Seeing the feature first requires typing on a map of a major Google Maps landmark, such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco or the Empire State Building in New York City. From there, the user can tap and zoom in on a three-dimensional view of the city as a whole.
Although Berlin was not on Google's initial list of possible cities, Gzmondo's team there was able to confirm that the feature was indeed working in Germany's capital. Google said Amsterdam, Dublin, Florence and Venice were the next cities on the list.
With the new update, Google has also added to its maps the "Live View" feature, which adopts augmented reality technologies through the phone's camera to display information to the user about the places where he is.