Photo: autoevolution
Google has just published a new version of Google Maps in the App Store, which means iPhone and CarPlay users are getting a bunch of improvements for the navigation experience.
As usual, Google Maps for iPhones comes without a changelog, but this is a notable release for several reasons anyway.
First and foremost, it’s only the third update Google Maps receives this year on iPhone and CarPlay. The first of them landed on April 12, nearly five months after the previous update, while another smaller revision went live a week later in the App Store.
And now, Google Maps is being updated to version 5.68, with the changelog only pointing to generic information like refinements that “improve our product to help you discover new places and navigate to them.”
But on the other hand, Google is working on quite a lot of improvements for Google Maps, some of which have already been announced in the last few weeks and which are projected to go live in the app rather sooner than later. Therefore, there’s a chance these smaller releases pave the way for the introduction of these new features.
For example, Google Maps is changing the default route model from the fastest path to a specific destination to the most fuel-efficient.
What this means is that Google Maps would no longer try to determine the fastest route to a user-defined address but actually look for alternatives in an attempt to reduce the carbon footprint and eventually find a way that helps you reduce fuel consumption. This will be the default setting in Google Maps going forward, but the good news is that users will also be allowed to switch back to the fastest route model from the settings screen.
On Android, Google is also working on a dedicated driving mode for Google Maps that turns the navigation app into a full-time replacement for Android Auto on phones, though this feature is currently available only in a limited number of regions as a preview.
First and foremost, it’s only the third update Google Maps receives this year on iPhone and CarPlay. The first of them landed on April 12, nearly five months after the previous update, while another smaller revision went live a week later in the App Store.
And now, Google Maps is being updated to version 5.68, with the changelog only pointing to generic information like refinements that “improve our product to help you discover new places and navigate to them.”
But on the other hand, Google is working on quite a lot of improvements for Google Maps, some of which have already been announced in the last few weeks and which are projected to go live in the app rather sooner than later. Therefore, there’s a chance these smaller releases pave the way for the introduction of these new features.
For example, Google Maps is changing the default route model from the fastest path to a specific destination to the most fuel-efficient.
What this means is that Google Maps would no longer try to determine the fastest route to a user-defined address but actually look for alternatives in an attempt to reduce the carbon footprint and eventually find a way that helps you reduce fuel consumption. This will be the default setting in Google Maps going forward, but the good news is that users will also be allowed to switch back to the fastest route model from the settings screen.
On Android, Google is also working on a dedicated driving mode for Google Maps that turns the navigation app into a full-time replacement for Android Auto on phones, though this feature is currently available only in a limited number of regions as a preview.
Google News