Google is making significant updates to Google Maps for 2024, focusing on improving data freshness, enabling mapping of new countries, and enhancing user experience with generative AI. The company introduced a new, modular Street View camera system that can be easily integrated into various vehicles, allowing for more efficient data collection and updates. This technology will allow Google to update maps for locations that have not been refreshed in a decade. Furthermore, Google Maps will leverage its generative AI chatbot, Gemini, to provide users with more personalized and helpful information. Gemini can assist in finding places based on specific criteria, summarize reviews, offer real-time traffic and weather updates, and even suggest parking options. These advancements demonstrate Google's commitment to staying ahead in the navigation app market and providing users with the most comprehensive and reliable mapping experience.
Larry drove down some of these streets with a video camera and handed it to someone and said, 'Hey, what can you do with this?'' said Maria Biggs, technical program manager at Google Street View, a prominent feature in Google Maps . In a car equipped with the latest Street View camera, Biggs took CNBC on a ride near Google's Silicon Valley headquarters. First introduced in 2022, it's the first camera model that can be added onto any car, rather than being built into the vehicle.
'We're going to Hawaii with these next generation camera systems because we don't have to ship the whole car,' Biggs said. 'We can just put the camera system in a box and ship it there and then rent the car when we're there.'Biggs said the new technology will allow Google to update data on some places for the first time in 10 years. 'We're going to be able to easily move these cameras around and have more freshness in our maps,' she said. As Maps approaches its 20th anniversary in February, Google is working hard to keep that lead, with the help of the new cameras, as well as generative artificial intelligence. The more nimble cameras are allowing Google to make updates to dozens of countries. It's also mapping at least three new ones — Bosnia and Herzegovina, Namibia, and Liechtenstein. Street View cameras are a significant part of how Google gathers data for Maps, but it also relies on satellite and aerial images, and information from more than 1,000 third-party sources, such as local governments and users. That mass data collection system allows Google to offer maps in more than 250 countries and territories. Street View hardware operations' Tom Nora installs Google's newest camera system on a car in Palo Alto, California, on November 15, 2024. First introduced in 2022, it's the first model that can be used on any car rather than being built-in, helping Google Map new countries.In October, Google enabled Maps with Gemini, its generative AI chatbot. Gemini can help find places that meet a detailed set of specifications, like a dog-friendly sports bar with TVs and outdoor dining. It can summarize thousands of reviews, give drivers real-time reports of disruptions like unplowed roads or flooded areas, and overlay weather conditions on an immersive view along the way. On public transit, there are now delay reports, alternate routes, and details like subway entrance locations. At the destination, Maps can make parking suggestions and then help with walking directions from there. 'We hope that our products are helping people navigate more confidently and safely,' said Chris Phillips, vice president and general manager of Google Geo, the division that runs Maps. He said Waze is also helping improve safety on roadways by'letting people know a particular street has had issues in the past, and we've seen a noticeable change in people's behaviors when they're driving down those streets.''We'll give you some more provocative maneuvers along the way,' Phillips said, when it comes to'beating the traffic and getting around.'Phillips said Google only uses public roads and works with the local authorities to adhere to rules for specific streets.Google Geo VP and General Manager Chris Phillips shows CNBC's Katie Tarasov around the Google Street View garage in Palo Alto, California, on November 15, 2024. 'The use of these navigation apps, whether embedded or on smartphone devices, is almost universal,' said James Hodgson, who covers automotive for ABI Research. Hodgson said that one problem currently is that the technology is targeted on a user-by-user basis. To improve efficiency, he said,'we are approaching a point where there needs to be a broader, almost fleet-level view.'abortion clinics or domestic violence sheltersHow much Google spends, and makes, on Maps is shrouded in secrecy. Parent company Alphabet doesn't break out Maps in itsThe revenue is largely built on a model that Google knows well: advertising. 'We're always focused on giving people the result, when they're searching for a restaurant or a place, that most accurately fits what they're searching for,'Phillips said.'And merchants have the opportunity to actually pay for advertising in order for their place to show up in that list.'. Developers have used it to build more than 10 million sites and apps for things like food delivery, ridesharing and real estate. For example, in 2019,in 2024, and passengers in Phoenix can hail one of the fully autonomous cars directly from the Google Maps app. Robotaxis also present the potential for a virtuous cycle. 'I think an ambition for Waymo, and something that we see from almost every other autonomous vehicle platform provider, is to try to close that loop and to use the same vehicles that benefit from the map to also contribute to the creation of that map,' Hodgson said.'That is the future of where mapping is going for autonomous driving.'Weathe
GOOGLE MAPS STREET VIEW GENERATIVE AI NAVIGATION MOBILE APPS AUTONOMOUS DRIVING DATA COLLECTION ADVERTISING TECHNOLOGY UPDATES
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