It offers a panoramic, street-level look. Meanwhile, users both inside and outside big cities around the world will benefit from the changes to how natural features are presented in Google Maps. Streets is the best way to browse Street View panoramas on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac (with Apple Silicon). The company notes that after the first three cities receive the update, it plans to roll out more detailed city maps to additional markets, including those outside the U.S. Google Maps reaches over a billion users worldwide, so changes can take time to scale. Instead, Google says the new maps will roll out to NY, SF and London in the “coming months.” The vague time frame is due to the staged nature of the release - something that’s often necessary for larger apps.
The updated city maps won’t show up immediately in the Google Maps app, we understand. The company also notes that Google Maps today displays wheelchair-accessible routes in transit and wheelchair attributes on business pages. It was launched in 2007 in several cities in the United States, and has since expanded to include cities and rural areas worldwide.
While the added granularity won’t include more accessibility features, like curb cuts for example, Google says that having the crosswalks detailed on the map will help in that area. The service also allows users to flag inappropriate or sensitive imagery for Google to review and remove. Image Credits: Google (before: left, after: right)
