The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Google Maps: Fast from A to B - But the route planner can do much more

2020-02-24T15:42:05.965Z


Are you in a strange city and you don't know your way around? Google Maps guides you comfortably from A to B. But the online map service can do much more.


Are you in a strange city and you don't know your way around? Google Maps guides you comfortably from A to B. But the online map service can do much more.

  • If you do not know the way, you often first use Google Maps .
  • Billions of people around the world use the online card service .
  • But Google Maps can do more than just navigate.

How do I get from A to B? How long does it take to get to the restaurant? And which route is the fastest to work? Those who are not familiar with an area often use Google Maps first . Whether on vacation or everyday life, the map service from Google has become indispensable for many.

The Google Maps navigation service works via the location system (GPS) and has access to an oversized amount of map material . Maps can be easily accessed via the mobile Internet or as an app on a smartphone. Using voice navigation, traffic jam detection and alternative routes, you can reach your destination on foot, by car, bicycle or public transport. But Google Maps can do much more than just navigate from one place to another.

Google Maps: what is it?

The US company's online map service was launched in 2005 - first on the desktop and then on the smartphone. 15 years later, Google Maps has become an integral part of everyday life. It is probably the most widely used navigation app ; more than a billion people now use the service's search function regularly (as of 2018). Maps has been available in 39 languages around the world since 2020.

Google Maps is celebrating its 15th birthday today and some of our readers will remember the beginning. A lot has happened since then and the card platform has grown extremely strongly in all directions. The highlights of ... https://t.co/wyKLCGc7iq pic.twitter.com/453tYdRY1K

- GoogleWatchBlog (@googlewatchblog) February 8, 2020

Google Maps has fundamentally changed the term "map", the map service has long ceased to be a normal navigation system . In addition to a virtual map of land and water masses, the road network of cities and villages is shown in a detailed map. Locations of institutions and well-known sights are also shown. You can observe the earth both from the air and as a satellite image .

Google Maps: Much more than a "map service"

In real time, users can plan routes, monitor traffic, use the search functions or access the image and satellite photo database. Google Maps also serves as a travel guide, business directory for companies or helps with research. Maps is also used as an infrastructure for self-driving cars, delivery services, augmented reality applications and other location-based services.

Around 400 times around the world - this corresponds to the route that Google has photographed for the map. If you put the pictures together, that would be about 16 million kilometers . At the beginning, Google only showed 3D satellite images of some locations, according to Heise 98 percent of the entire world population are now provided with high-resolution satellite images .

+

Google Maps is used by billions of people worldwide. Here to see: The embassies in Berlin.

© dpa / Google Maps

Entries in Google Maps are highly competitive

"We believe cards can be practical and fun" - Google started advertising with the numerous options that an online card offers. Even off the road, Google Maps now guides us through life with numerous practical tips: shops, petrol stations, public toilets and bike paths are displayed. The data collection includes reviews, opening times, photos and descriptions of locations.

Google Maps has long since become an interesting advertising and marketplace for many companies. An entry in Maps is now very competitive, because the online reviews can provide shops or restaurants with additional customers.

Google Maps: Many options are unknown

Google Maps has changed a lot over the years, more and more options are now available to users. Most of them probably don't even know many of them. With the Google Street View function, for example, you can explore the street perspectives from home in a 360-degree panorama view.

But Google not only helps in the search for a specific destination: With just a few clicks, you can virtually go to any conceivable place in the world. Whether in the hectic streets of New York or to the Taj Mahal in India - in just a few seconds you can be at the desired location with the pictures of the Street View cars .

Google Maps: curious discoveries and mistakes

On Google Maps there are always puzzling or curious discoveries. Errors in the maps on Google Maps are always known. As in this case, where a well-known river in Bavaria was simply renamed.

Service has changed our perception of the world. For many people, Google Maps has become an integral part of their lives

lkn

List of rubric lists: © dpa / Armin Weigel

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-02-24

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.