During its Google I/O 2022 developer conference, held last month, the American giant demonstrated its progress in several areas that are at the heart of its activity, such as Android, Google Search but also Google Maps. The mapping tool, used both on computers and smartphones, is therefore equipped with a spectacular new function called Immersive View (or immersive view). Immersive View combines satellite imagery and Street View imagery owned by the company. These shots, skilfully reworked to preserve the proportions of each building, produce an impressive result. From behind his screen, the user has the impression of flying over a city modeled entirely in 3D, a bit like the cinematic scenes of many video games. An excellent way to visualize a neighborhood, for example, to see the height of the buildings, the width of the streets, etc. And that’s not all. Google added an additional layer of information. Thanks to all the data collected by Google that we already have in Maps, you can assess live the current weather, traffic conditions or activity that is happening in the district.
Like a scout drone
To push the immersion even further, Google even offers to enter certain buildings or establishments like restaurants to see what they look like from the inside. A bit like sending a drone to scout. The result looks really impressive. And to top it off, the company states that this new navigation mode will work on virtually any device. So you don’t have to own a high-end, latest generation smartphone or a super powerful computer to benefit from it.
Immersive View is rolling out for the cities of Los Angeles, London, New York and San Francisco. Tokyo is expected to join this small group later this year. Of course, Google plans to include more cities. With Immersive View, Google Maps is transformed a little more into Google Earth, but with enhanced capabilities as it adds real-time collected data and a much higher level of detail. But the tool for discovering the world still has a great future ahead of it, as Immersive View is currently focused on modeling large cities.
Sources: writing and web
During its Google I/O 2022 developer conference, held last month, the American giant demonstrated its progress in several areas that are at the heart of its activity, such as Android, Google Search but also Google Maps. The cartographic tool, used both on computers and smartphones, is therefore equipped with a new function…