Google Maps has teamed up with Gemini to answer your travel questions

Key Street Shops

• Google Maps introduces Ask Maps for AI-powered search and weather alerts.
• Other updates include improved navigation details and weather reporting while maintaining key features.
• Conversation Reporting being tested by Waze, should be extended to Google Maps in the future.

Google has been hard at work working Gemini into every product it can for almost a year now, and this week, it’s Google Maps. Google announced a series of updates to Google Maps, Google Earth, and Waze today, headlined by a new Ask Maps feature in Google Maps that uses Gemini’s natural language capabilities to answer questions about nearby locations. Waze is also testing a handy new option to report road hazards in natural language—a feature that Google Maps VP and GM Miriam Daniel tells me will make its way to Maps someday, too.

Maps gets AI-powered search, weather alerts, and more

The new Ask Maps remind me a lot of the similarly named Ask Photos, a Gemini-powered feature in Google Photos that lets you ask questions to get answers from your Photos library. Ask Maps works similarly: you can ask Google Maps for specific things – Google uses the example of “things to do with friends at night” – and Gemini will use reviewed content from nearby places to provide a list of relevant options. Gemini will also summarize the sentiment of the review for individual firms, and answer questions about those firms. For example, you can ask if a restaurant offers vegetarian options, or if it has outdoor seating.

AI doesn’t have all of this week’s updates, though; the experience of the Main maps is also improving. Navigation will show more detail where possible, including lanes, intersections, and signage, to help give you a better idea of ​​where exactly you should be on the road at any given time. There is also a new system for reporting weather disturbances while driving. As with the current option to report speed traps and stopped cars, you’ll soon be able to report conditions such as low-visibility or snow-free roads, and see other users’ reports of the same conditions.

Immersive View is also on the rise. Starting this week, you’ll be able to view 3D renderings of areas in 150 cities around the world. Maps is also getting Immersive Views on more types of places, including college campuses.

Chat Reporting in Waze

Waze is testing a useful new feature in beta starting this week. “Trusted testers” will be able to report issues along the way by tapping a button and saying what they see in a natural way; Gemini will interpret the input and add the appropriate information to the map. Phrases like “a car has a flat tire” or “trash can fall on the road” will report a stopped vehicle or an obstacle in the street, respectively.

It appears that the feature is getting a narrow test in Waze before it expands more widely, including to Google Maps. In a briefing, I asked if Google had plans to bring Conversation Reporting to Maps. Google Maps VP and GM Miriam Daniel said she can’t commit to a timeline, but she “absolutely” wants to see the feature available in Maps, noting that “Conversation Reporting is the future.” Chat Reporting is coming to English users in beta starting this week, and to “more users and languages ​​in the coming months.”

Rolling out this week

It’s not hard to see the integration of AI in navigation products getting out of hand, but Google’s approach here seems rather limited, using Gemini to improve the experience around the edges rather than overhauling any core functionality. . The above features are launching in Google Maps and Waze this week.