Google has expanded the role of its AI model Google Gemini across its ecosystem, announcing a new Google Maps feature called Ask Maps that allows users to ask complex real-world questions and receive detailed, personalized answers.
Previously, Google Maps often struggled to answer very specific queries, such as where to charge your phone without lining up to get coffee. But with the Gemini integration, the app can now interpret subtle requests and return suggestions with instructions. review About this latest feature from The Verge.
The Ask Maps feature allows users to conversationally explain their plans and add as much detail as they like. Gemini then analyzes the request and generates customized recommendations based on the user’s previously interacted with preferences and locations in Google Maps.
In a briefing with reporters, Google product manager Andrew Deutch gave an example of how the system works, saying, “I have a friend coming over from Midtown East after work, and I was wondering if you could find a place between my office and Midtown East that has a vegetarian, cozy aesthetic and has a table for four tonight at 7 o’clock.”
With Gemini, Maps analyzes user reviews and photos to extract information about factors like ambiance and venue crowding trends, and generates several options. If a user has previously favorited or interacted with a particular location, they may also appear in the results. Once you’ve found the right location, Ask Maps goes one step further by allowing users to reserve a table with a single tap.
The feature first rolled out in the US and India this week on both Android and iOS devices, with desktop support expected in the near future. Launch in more regions has not yet been announced.
Google is also using Gemini to revamp the visual experience of Maps itself. The company announced a new “immersive navigation” mode, describing it as “the biggest upgrade to the Google Maps navigation experience in over a decade.” Once navigation begins, users will see updated map colors, detailed 3D buildings, flyovers, more realistic terrain, and added greenery.
Privacy concerns
According to Miriam Daniel, vice president and general manager of Google Maps, the responses generated by Gemini rely solely on data from Google Maps, not information from other Google apps such as Gmail. If personalization occurs, she said, it will be based on previous searches on Maps or Google Search and locations that users have saved, favorited, or added to lists.
A platform for aggressive marketing?
Asked whether Google will eventually allow businesses like restaurants and hotels to pay to feature prominently on AI-generated recommendations, Duchi declined to comment on future monetization plans. However, he said paid listings currently do not affect which locations appear in Ask Maps suggestions.
Nazrin Sadigova
