Today, Google is launching some major product updates to Google Maps that utilize Gemini, its proprietary multimodal artificial intelligence (AI) model. In addition to changes that aim to make driving and getting to your final destination easier, Google is introducing the functionality to ask Google Maps for inspiration, curated by Gemini.
Users will be able to query Google Maps, which will then answer with a collection of suggestions, complete with video snippets and photography. Google will also roll out review summaries based on user reviews, and users will eventually be able to ask specific questions about the recommended places.
Google Maps will soon roll out a feature where users can ask specific questions about recommendations.
Credit: 2024 Google
Google is also launching Immersive View in 150 cities globally, including Kyoto, Japan; Frankfurt, Germany; and Brussels, Belgium. Immersive View uses AI, imagery and computer vision to “experience what stadiums, parks and routes look like” — even down to the weather and traffic conditions. Immersive View is also adding new places, such as college campuses, and highlights important information including where to park, and complex turns to navigate.
Our Analysis: Google Maps Is Getting Smarter and More Useful for Trip Planning
With more than 2 billion active users, Google Maps can easily influence how we navigate and explore the world — and its stated goal is to continue to transform how we do so. And now, with Gemini offering suggestions based on specific and unique queries, it is getting into the recommendation and inspiration space.
Eventually, consumers will be comfortable using this tool when traveling or when planning travel, and they’ll also get accustomed to previewing destinations with Immersive View, which aims to prepare users as best it can for their future travels.
Travel advisors are currently one of the best resources travelers have for recommendations, inspiration and preparation when it comes to travel — but it is clear that Google Maps’ AI-enhanced products will continue to get better with time. As these digital tools get more accurate, intuitive and mainstream, it is important that advisors investigate them for themselves and learn how to master them for trip planning. AI is here to stay, and those advisors who don’t shy away from it as a threat, but reflect on how to incorporate it, will be the most efficient and valuable to clients in the long run.
