Gemini in Google Maps is perhaps the best use of mobile AI yet

We hardly need to be reminded of that Google puts AI in everythingbut the latest push is probably one of the most interesting and immediately useful yet, as Google Maps has now entered the Gemini era.

Extensive experience

Before we get into the many AI updates happening across all of Google’s ‘Geo’ departments (the collective name for all of its mapping tools), it’s helpful to understand how rich Google’s location data already is. Collected recently 20 yearsGoogle’s mapping expertise is available in more than 250 countries and territories around the world, and Google Maps alone has more than 2 billion active users every month.

Google already uses AI in its mapping products, such as the Lens overlay in Maps’ AR mode, which puts live location information on the map for you. Google is now using AI to improve its photorealistic 3D tour Immersive viewa feature first launched last year, providing live location data including weather, parking and turn-by-turn information. Immersive View is now launching in 150 cities this week and also includes college campuses.

While useful, it is in Google Maps where AI and Google Gemini are likely to have the most impact. A new feature called Ask Maps lets you use the search bar for more complex questions, such as questions about what to do in a city, and Gemini will return a curated list of ideas and suggestions. Further down the results page, Gemini summarizes user reviews and allows you to ask further questions about granular details, such as whether a location is quiet or noisy.

Driving with Maps and Waze

The Ask Maps feature taps into another huge power of Google Maps, as there are over 500 million contributors and editors and over 100 million map updates every day. It creates a huge, real-time database for Gemini to pull from when you’re looking for the latest information, in addition to using sources from all over the internet. Don’t worry, the summaries are balanced so you get to see the good and the bad.

Ask Maps launches in the US this week and adds some updates to car navigation. Drawing further on the successful crowdsourcing system, drivers using Maps can add real-time information about any weather disruptions. Another new feature, Enhanced Navigation, examines a planned route and can make recommendations on places to stop along the way, while expanding information on lane details, restrictions, crossings and more. When you arrive, Maps will highlight parking options and alert you to save the location when you stop.

The Enhanced Navigation suite will launch in 30 US cities in November, while the Explore and weather reporting system will be available worldwide this week. Waze, owned by Google will also begin testing a new reporting system, which Gemini will use for voice control. For example, you can verbally tell Waze that there is a double-parked car blocking you, and Waze will add a warning to the map that there is an object blocking the road so others can notice. Waze also shares this data, along with the information it collects from city partners, with other Google Geo products. It will first launch as a beta product for trusted testers worldwide, with an expanded launch expected early next year.

Gemini has already done it Replace Google Assistant on many Android smartphones and is widely used in other Google products, from Google Drive to Gmail. Not all of the functionality will be immediately useful to everyone, but Gemini in Maps seems to be one of the more interesting additions that many will soon try to use.