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Google Maps Now Uses Street View To Show You Exactly Where To Make Turns (theverge.com)
Google Maps has received a small design update that will show Street View images of every road you're supposed to turn onto. "If you tap the image, Street View will open up to that location, showing an arrow in the direction you're meant to turn," reports The Verge. From the report: It's a small change, but it could make a difference at confusing intersections or for people (like me) who are very bad with street names. The change was spotted by Android Police. Unfortunately, the images display as tiny thumbnails until you tap to open them up, so while the addition is definitely helpful, it's not quite glanceable information -- you'll definitely have to tap to open every turn that you want to see in detail. The feature only appears to be on Android for now. But Google's iOS app usually has the same look and features, so it may just be a matter of time before it gets updated. Android Police also points out that Google changed the bottom navigation bar when getting directions. It takes up a bit more of the screen now, but it's also a bit more explicit about what tapping certain things will do. Altogether, seems like a smart change.
Am I the only one who remembers this already almost a decade ago, back when Google Street View was fairly new? Back before it was assumed that everyone had a smartphone with GPS and a data plan, when you might still print out your Google Maps directions, there already was an option to add a Street View map to every turn.
I remember trying it once for a couple long trips to unfamiliar locations... And I pretty much found the photos pretty useless. Small maps that showed me the details of each junction? Yes, they were occasionally helpful. But photos of the turn often from an angle that wasn't the same as what I was looking at?
The only photo I found helpful was the final destination for a place I hadn't been to before. It was sometimes helpful to have a visual on that in advance. Obviously this is a bit different now with integration into an app in real time, but I personally would still just prefer an overhead traditional map view, which gives me a sense of context rather than a single perspective.