The latest Google AR Maps update should help you avoid getting lost while traveling

Google Maps’ sweepstakes feature — which allows you to virtually navigate landmarks — is finally getting a major upgrade in five major cities around the world, making it easier to find your way around.

When the feature was announced at Google I/O 2022, the all-encompassing view allowed people to virtually tour hundreds of landmarks from Tokyo Tower to the Acropolis in Athens. Using a combination of aerial and street imagery—along with some AI assistance—the immersive view can show you an accurate 3D model of the tourist destination, giving you a sense of the site’s layout and scale. It can also feed you data from Google Maps, including visitor ratings, times when the location is usually busiest and quietest, and what the weather looks like.

While the immersive display was very neat, it was limited in scope. That’s why we’re excited to hear that Google is expanding the feature to more broadly five major cities around the world: London, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Tokyo — ironically, the French capital isn’t on this list, despite the announced announcement. At the Google Live from Paris event.

Instead of being able to take a virtual aerial tour of a few of the landmarks in these locations, you’ll be able to explore almost the entire city. As you go along, you’ll be able to gather useful information about major landmarks, as well as parks, restaurants, and other destinations you might want to visit.

Annoyingly, even after this launch, the immersive view is still very limited. It is said that the world has 10,000 cities – so the global 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’ll likely be a few years before we can count on it on every trip we take.

(Image credit: Future)

In addition to the all-encompassing view, Google also announced that its similar Live View feature for indoor spaces will be rolled out across 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 the city with an easy-to-use AR overlay. You can rely on the 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 pause to eat or do some shopping.

Indoor Live View will allow you to do the same for museums, malls, and airports while navigating them from the inside. Google promises that it will help you find stairs, elevators, restrooms, and taxi booths.

If you want to take advantage of the useful tools Google Maps has to offer today, check out these 5 Google Maps features you might not know about.

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