There is a new button in Google Maps: “Request cards.” Google today began rolling out this new generative AI feature, an in-app conversational tool that combines Maps data with an enterprise-like user experience. Gemini chatbot. It is designed to answer questions about locations and plan routes in the navigation app.
This is part of Google’s overall strategy to add Gemini to all of its products. (Like that Portlandia sketch (where the duo visits a store and puts bird stickers on everything in sight.) Earlier this week, Google added Tools powered by Gemini to its Workspace suite, including Google Docs, Sheets and Slides. And a few weeks before, he had opened a path for Gemini will take control of certain applications to complete tasks, like booking an Uber.
Ask Maps is aimed at Google Maps users in the United States and India for the first time. This launch is limited to mobile devicesavailable on Android and iOS, with a desktop version expected in the near future. You can’t turn off Ask Maps or hide it, just like most new AI Features from Google.
Ask Maps appears as the first tab below the search bar. When someone taps it, Google offers personalized suggestions. For example, someone living in San Francisco may be prompted to plan a drive to Muir Woods, including a stop for breakfast burritos, or explore vintage store routes for shopping in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood.
It is designed to be used when planning road trips. In an example provided by Google, Ask Maps created a solid itinerary for a nature getaway from the Grand Canyon to nearby Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. The chatbot put together a three-day driving plan with several viewpoints and other popular stops marked along the route. Ask Maps ended this post with some tips for spending time in the dunes: “Rent a sandboard from the visitor center and grab some wax: it’s the key to speed.”
The conversational feature is an example of how Google leverages the data it stores about users to deliver personalized experiences. If Ask Maps records that you are vegetarian, it will reconfigure the restaurants included in the recommendations: no House of Prime Rib for a date in the city. Gemini chatbot You can now search your inbox and files to find answers, and it’s another example of Google’s growing focus on AI-driven personalization.
Along with Ask Maps, Google is adding an immersive navigation mode to Google Maps. The new view changes driver navigation to a more immersive display with 3D effects as well as highlighted lane markers and stop signs when useful. It is deployed today in the United States. Apple introduced a similar 3D city view a few years ago in certain American cities for its own mapping application.
Years after the generative AI revolution began, Google remains steadfast in its attempts to AI-ify all of its software. The company’s annual developer conference, Google I/Ois scheduled for the end of May. As we approach, expect Google to continue its steady pace of Gemini integrations. After all, the company will present its first smart speaker developed for the The era of generative AI in a few weeks.
