The first instances of Waze's real-time traffic conditions, along with more Street View in step-by-step directions and auto-generated tours, come to Google Maps for desktops. November 6, 2013 12:01 PM PST Waze real-time traffic updates in Google Maps for desktops. (Credit: Google) New features that began arriving in Google Maps on Wednesday show that the company has begun to cross-pollinate Maps features throughout the service. Traffic incident and road condition reports from real-time traffic app Waze, which Google bought in June for $966 million and began showing up in Google Maps' mobile apps in August, will now appear in desktop Web browsers. Related stories: Google Maps becoming more context-aware and 'emotional' Horror movie locations plotted out in Esri's interactive map Google Street View sets out to map Arlington Cemetery Google Maps charts new territory into businesses Mapbox raises $10M, could give Google Maps a run for the money Google also has tweaked the interface of Maps a bit, pushing its Pegman character to the lower right corner, and making roads with Street View appear in blue when you click on Pegman. New blue and orange circles will indicate photos contributed by users and business interiors, respectively. Street View imagery will begin to appear in step-by-step directions, as well. The Street View photos will appear in the cards for directions, which will make it easier to recognize landmarks in directions. For people running the latest versions of the five major Web browsers, which use WebGL, you will be able to take an automatically generated 3D tour of famous points-of-interest. Google points to Swiss Alps as an example, although its list of operating systems and browsers that support WebGL is out-of-date. However, the new version of Google Maps remains in an experimental phase, as indicated by users having to opt in to see it. A Google spokesperson said that it works best "on recent hardware and with certain browsers," and that the company is "gradually rolling out" the new desktop Google Maps. A small icon indicates when you can experience an auto-generated 3D tour in Google Maps for desktops. (Credit: Google)
The first instances of Waze's real-time traffic conditions, along with more Street View in step-by-step directions and auto-generated tours, come to Google Maps for desktops.
Waze real-time traffic updates in Google Maps for desktops.
(Credit: Google)
New features that began arriving in Google Maps on Wednesday show that the company has begun to cross-pollinate Maps features throughout the service.
Traffic incident and road condition reports from real-time traffic app Waze, which Google bought in June for $966 million and began showing up in Google Maps' mobile apps in August, will now appear in desktop Web browsers.
Related stories:
- Google Maps becoming more context-aware and 'emotional'
- Horror movie locations plotted out in Esri's interactive map
- Google Street View sets out to map Arlington Cemetery
- Google Maps charts new territory into businesses
- Mapbox raises $10M, could give Google Maps a run for the money
Google also has tweaked the interface of Maps a bit, pushing its Pegman character to the lower right corner, and making roads with Street View appear in blue when you click on Pegman. New blue and orange circles will indicate photos contributed by users and business interiors, respectively.
Street View imagery will begin to appear in step-by-step directions, as well. The Street View photos will appear in the cards for directions, which will make it easier to recognize landmarks in directions.
For people running the latest versions of the five major Web browsers, which use WebGL, you will be able to take an automatically generated 3D tour of famous points-of-interest. Google points to Swiss Alps as an example, although its list of operating systems and browsers that support WebGL is out-of-date.
However, the new version of Google Maps remains in an experimental phase, as indicated by users having to opt in to see it. A Google spokesperson said that it works best "on recent hardware and with certain browsers," and that the company is "gradually rolling out" the new desktop Google Maps.
A small icon indicates when you can experience an auto-generated 3D tour in Google Maps for desktops.
(Credit: Google)
