Photo: autoevolution
Google Maps has received another silent update, this time bringing house numbers both on the desktop and on mobile devices.
House numbers on Google Maps make it a lot easier to navigate to a specific address, and by the looks of things, the feature is now live for the first wave of users in the United States, as Google is apparently using a gradual rollout in its domestic market.
Most likely, the new feature would eventually go live worldwide for everybody in all versions of Google Maps (on the desktop, on Android, and on iPhone).
Why is this such an important update?
First of all, with house numbers, you can configure the navigation app to get you right in front of the porch, regardless of the means of transportation that you use. This is obviously something that definitely comes in handy for shipping services which can thus find a specific address much easier.
Then, Google has made house numbers clickable on the map, so you can just select a specific address and then share it with someone else to use it for navigation.
The house numbers are visible in all layers of Google Maps, so they are enabled in the default view, but also in the satellite and 3D modes. The house numbers don’t yet show up on Street View.
At some level, the house numbers are Google Maps’ response to the more precise navigation offered by alternative services like what3words, which divided the world into squares, each square getting an address based on 3 random words.
Google is yet to officially announce this new feature, but given it’s rolling out in waves to users across the world, expect more information to be shared when the release is complete. For now, it seems to cover only the United States, but there’s a good chance it’d be expanded in international markets as well rather sooner than later.
Most likely, the new feature would eventually go live worldwide for everybody in all versions of Google Maps (on the desktop, on Android, and on iPhone).
Why is this such an important update?
First of all, with house numbers, you can configure the navigation app to get you right in front of the porch, regardless of the means of transportation that you use. This is obviously something that definitely comes in handy for shipping services which can thus find a specific address much easier.
Then, Google has made house numbers clickable on the map, so you can just select a specific address and then share it with someone else to use it for navigation.
The house numbers are visible in all layers of Google Maps, so they are enabled in the default view, but also in the satellite and 3D modes. The house numbers don’t yet show up on Street View.
At some level, the house numbers are Google Maps’ response to the more precise navigation offered by alternative services like what3words, which divided the world into squares, each square getting an address based on 3 random words.
Google is yet to officially announce this new feature, but given it’s rolling out in waves to users across the world, expect more information to be shared when the release is complete. For now, it seems to cover only the United States, but there’s a good chance it’d be expanded in international markets as well rather sooner than later.
Google News