Routes Based on Weather and Road Conditions by Google Maps

 Next-Generation Google Maps : Routes Based on Weather and 

Road Conditions

Over the past few years, Google Maps has transformed how people interact with the world with features like eco-friendly routing to help you take fuel or energy efficient routes, and Live View to help you orient yourself when walking with augmented reality. Today with the power of AI, we’re announcing even more updates so you can confidently plan and navigate trips, make sustainable choices and get quick inspiration for things to do. Navigation apps typically search for the fastest route to reach a destination, but new-generation updates added new capabilities, including support for eco-friendly routes. Google Maps can look for a route that allows drivers to reduce fuel consumption and cut emissions, taking into account more factors, including the road incline and traffic conditions.

Google Maps provides over 20 billion km's of directions every day. And with AI, we’re reimagining how you plan your trips before you go. Google is providing Immersive View for routes, an entirely new way to preview every step of your journey, whether you’re driving, walking or cycling. Say you want to bike along the water to the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. Just request cycling directions, then tap the Immersive View preview to see your route in a stunning, multidimensional view from start to finish. You can prepare for each turn as if you were there with detailed, visual turn-by-turn directions, and use the time slider to plan when to head out based on helpful information, like simulated traffic and weather conditions. So you can easily avoid riding during rainy weather or heavy traffic. The eco-friendly routing engine is already a fantastic addition to Google Maps. The Mountain View-based search giant says the feature reduced fuel emissions by the equivalent of taking 500,000 vehicles off the road, and the more it expands, the bigger its impact. Now, the search firm is working on what could be another major update for the routing engine bundled with Google Maps.

A recently filed patent provides us with a glimpse into a routing system which looks for routes based on the road surface and weather conditions. Google Maps' routing options allow users to include and exclude unpaved roads from suggested routes, along with other settings like tolls and ferries. The unpaved roads could often serve as shortcuts, allowing users to save time when they drive to their destinations. However, unpaved roads aren’t always the safest choice, so many users keep them disabled, sticking with paved routes for obvious routes. Google looks ready to push this concept to a new level with its patent. Called "weather and road surface type-based navigation directions," the new technology describes how Google Maps could analyze more factors when searching for routes, eventually displaying warnings to drivers before they begin the journey. If your route includes an unpaved road, Google Maps displays the route, along with a warning that you'll have to leave the asphalt to arrive at your destination. However, the application also searches for alternatives which do not include unpaved roads, so Google Maps could also work in the standard mode available today. The same approach would be used for routes whose navigation could be impacted by bad weather. Google Maps would be able to anticipate heavy weather, which in turns could also affect road conditions and make the journey more difficult.

Google Maps also makes it easier to understand your surroundings once you get somewhere, like if you’re exiting a subway station and need to orient yourself or if you’re scoping out a new neighbourhood and need to find the nearest coffee shop. Lens in Maps (formerly called Search with Live View) uses AI and augmented reality to help you quickly acclimate yourself, whether you’re navigating a new city or discovering local hidden gems. Simply tap the Lens icon in the search bar and lift your phone to find information about nearby ATMs, transit stations, restaurants, coffee shops and stores. Google Maps would show warnings in the route preview screen to let you know that heavy rain is expected along the route, possibly causing dirt or mud. Google says the feature could help prevent vehicle damage or harm to the user. The company explains that due to the road conditions, the vehicle could get stuck in the mud, so by displaying a warning before the user begins the journey allows them to make an informed decision regarding the directions would be used in between.

Eventually, Google Maps would also try to offer accurate ETAs based on all reported conditions. For example, if the application expects a driver to face heavy rain or reach an unpaved road, the traveling speed would drop significantly, eventually slowing them down. However, Google believes Google Maps can estimate the travel speed for each road section, including unpaved roads, offering a very accurate ETA. Google is aiming for an approach that gives drivers the choice. It's an approach the search giant is already using for eco-friendly routes, so when drivers are provided with a route allowing them to reduce fuel consumption and cut emissions, they can also see how much time it'd add to their journey. If they’re not satisfied with the result, they can switch to the fastest route, which was the default option until the introduction of the eco-friendly engine.

Today, hundreds of millions of drivers depend on Google Maps’ helpful information about real-world conditions, like nearby crashes or upcoming traffic jams. The same strategy will be used for the new technology based on this patent. Google says Google Maps will display all routes to the driver but still allow them to choose which one to use to head to the destination. The user can compare the ETA and determine how much time they'd spent driving to the defined destination based on all suggestions. It's important to remember that Google's proposed update is still in the patent stage, so it's not a certain thing for now. However, considering Google's increased focus on transforming Google Maps into a new-generation service, the company is pursuing this idea and promoting it to mass production.

Meanwhile, the company is also improving Google Maps on other fronts, including on Android Auto. Google Maps will soon receive a 3D update, providing users with a new mode when driving to a destination. The 3D buildings shown on Google Maps use a transparency effect specifically to avoid blocking the route, though Google could further refine it before it lands in the production channel. Google Maps also gets EV routing thanks to a partnership between Google and Ford. Google Maps on Android Auto would access more vehicle information, including the battery range, eventually offering capabilities currently exclusive to Android Automotive. Google Maps would be able to monitor the range, automatically suggest charging stops, and estimate the battery left when arriving at the destination from the route generation screen. 

All of this builds on our work for Immersive View for places, which uses AI to fuse together billions of Street View and aerial images so you can know what a restaurant or landmark is like before you go. Now developers can also create their own immersive experiences with the launch of Photorealistic 3D Tiles in Google Maps Platform this week. The navigation map will reflect the real world even more accurately. In addition to updated colours throughout the map, you will see more realistic buildings to help you better orient yourself - like if you’re driving downtown and need to understand where you are during the final stretch of your ride. And on highways, where some of the trickiest driving manoeuvres often happen, you will see improved lane details to help you feel prepared. 

In the US, you’ll soon see if there are HOV lanes along your route so you can make a more informed decision about how to get to your destination. Whereas in Europe, our AI-powered speed limit information is expanding to 20 countries so you can stay safe even when it’s hard to spot speed limit signs on the road. Both features start rolling out on Android, iOS, and for cars with Google Built-in in the coming months. If you are an electric vehicle driver, you may be familiar with charging anxiety. Whether you’re on a road trip, commuting to work, or heading across town, there’s nothing worse than not knowing where you can charge mid-trip.

Building on our capabilities in cars with Google built-in, EV drivers on Android and iOS will now see even more helpful charging station information, including whether a charger is compatible with their vehicle and whether the available chargers are fast, medium, or slow to help you find the charging station which best meets your needs. EV charging information will also be available to developers on Google Maps Platform in the Places API, so companies can show real-time EV charging station information in their websites and apps. A video of a phone screen shows someone using Google Maps to search for EV chargers. From the list of chargers they select an option which specifies “your charges” so they only see chargers compatible with their car. They scroll through the options to learn more about the charger speeds and when they were last used. They tap on an option and are taken to that location’s page on Google Maps.

Sometimes you know exactly what you want to do, but aren’t sure where to go. Search in Google Maps is evolving to give you even more answers to your questions, help you discover things to do, and find inspiration in a whole new way. These results are based on the analysis of billions of photos shared by the Google Maps community, all done with AI and advanced image recognition models. With this visual list of places, you can discover new spots which match exactly what you are looking for. Just scroll through the results, tap on a photo to learn more, and navigate right there. And for those times when you’re starting from scratch and have no idea what to do, like when you magically have a free weekend, you will soon see better-organized search results to spark your imagination.