Google Maps is arguably one of the world’s most used navigation app ever. And the tech giant has announced that it will be getting new features and improved visuals.
Natural visuals and colors.
One of the key aims is to make the app look more natural. So visual details are being added to add depth to the visuals. ‘Exploring a place gives you a look at its natural features—so you can easily distinguish tan, arid beaches, and deserts from blue lakes, rivers, oceans, and ravines. You can know at a glance how lush and green a place is with vegetation, and even see if there are snow caps on the peaks of mountaintops.” as said by Google in a post. The post said that a thick forest could be classified as darker shades of green while a small patch of shrubs or vegetation would appear as a lighter tone or shade of the greens color.
It is reported, that the update will be rolled out globally and will be received by all the countries in which the app, Google Maps is used.
The new Color-Mapping algorithm technique.
A new color-mapping algorithm technique will be used by Google to make the visual improvements the company is looking forward to making. As said by the tech giant, “First, we use computer vision to identify natural features from our satellite imagery, looking specifically at arid, icy, forested, and mountainous regions. We then analyze these features and assign them a range of colors on the HSV color model. For example, a densely covered forest can be classified as dark green, while an area of patchy shrubs could appear as a lighter shade of green” so as make the textures of the visuals of the Google Maps look more natural.
Cities where the updates will be rolled out first.
The new update is not just about cool new visuals and true colors. This update of Google Maps is also made to keep the pedestrians is mind, as the highly detailed street information that will show accurate shape and width of a road to scale. The users will also be able to see where the sidewalks, crosswalks are located exactly.
As per Google, the first cities to get the update of the Google Maps are London, New York, and San Francisco and more countries and cities will be added over the course of months