Google Maps’ Immersive View feature – which lets you virtually visit landmarks – is finally getting a major upgrade in five major cities around the world, which should make it easier to find your way.
When the feature was announced at Google I/O 2022, Immersive View allowed people to virtually visit hundreds of landmarks, from Tokyo Tower to the Acropolis in Athens. Using a mix of aerial imagery and street views – along with AI assistance – Immersive View can show you an accurate 3D model of the tourist destination, giving you an idea of the layout and size of the location . It can also provide you with data from Google Maps, including visitor reviews, times when the location is typically busier and quieter, and the weather.
While Immersive View was pretty neat, its scope was admittedly limited. That’s why we’re excited to hear that Google is expanding the feature to cover five major cities around the world more broadly: London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo. Ironically, the French capital is absent from this list. , despite the announcement made at Google’s “Live from Paris” event.
Rather than being able to take a virtual aerial tour of just a few landmarks in these locations, you’ll be able to virtually explore the entire city. As you go, you’ll be able to collect useful information about the main monuments, but also about parks, restaurants and other destinations you might want to visit.
Unfortunately, even after this launch, Immersive View is still very limited. The world has 10,000 cities (opens in a new tab) in it – so Immersive View currently covers 0.05% of them. Google plans to roll out the feature to four more cities – Amsterdam, Dublin, Florence and Venice – in the coming months, but it’s likely to be a few years before we can count on it for every trip we take.
Beyond Immersive View, Google also announced that its similar Live View feature will be rolling out to indoor spaces in Barcelona, Frankfurt, London, New York, Paris, Sydney, Taipei, and other cities in the coming months.
Live View uses your Android or iOS phone’s camera to help you explore a city with a handy AR overlay. You can rely on floating arrows to point you in the direction of your destination and see details about the places you pass along the way if you want to take a break for a bite to eat or do some shopping.
Indoor Live View will let you do the same for museums, malls, and airports as you navigate them from the inside. Google promises it will help you find stairs and elevators, restrooms and taxi ranks.
If you want to take advantage of the useful tools Google Maps has today, check out these five Google Maps features you might not know about.
