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.

Comments

How stupid is the average person?

[Snotnose]

Being told to hang a left in a mile, being told to hang a left in half a mile, being told to hang a left in a quarter mile, being told to hang a left in 300 yards, being told to hang a left in 100 yards, being told to hand a left at the next light, missing the turn because you didn't have enough warning.

Jeezuz fuck us, let's have an app that sends all these people onto train tracks and tells them to wait until a train hits them.

Re:How stupid is the average person?

[thegarbz]

missing the turn because you didn't have enough warning.

Sorry but your example is garbage. Very few people miss turns due lack of warning. People miss turns due to confusing intersections. People miss turns due to crap signs. People miss turns because GPS applications don't necessarily understand every tiny marking on the road that prevents people from taking the turns that they are instructed to take. People miss turns because governments label multiple roads with the same name. People miss turns because roads suddenly change names without warning.

A picture says 1000 words.

Turning off the highway towards my house requires me to turn left followed by a turn right. Within 10m there are three options: Turn right, merge right onto a slip lane that turns right, or just continue on the turn right lane you're already in. Each one has a different level of rightness and I need to take the middle one if I want to get to where I'm going.

"Turn right in 100 yards" won't get people to my house.

Old tech

[AthanasiusKircher]

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.

Re:Old Tech

[sudon't]

I'm a truck driver, so my life is "long trips to unfamiliar locations". Street View is only occasionally useful to me, but Satellite View is a huge help because I can look at the place I'm going, confirm it's actually the company I want, (for some reason, addresses don't match up well out in the countryside), and see where the docks are, and which private, (usually dirt), road gets me there. The last thing you want to do in a seventy-some-foot-long truck is turn into a dead end. It's also extremely valuable in trying to find decent food, as you can see whether there's room for a truck to park nearby. The truck stops just suck for food, so this is huge for me. Traffic view is also a great help, and is always way more accurate than the one my GPS has. The only drawback is that I can't always use Google's routing because it doesn't do truck routing, (low clearance, weight restrictions, and other things you have to avoid).

This is why I've long wished Google would make an actual GPS unit for truckers. Out in the country, you're often getting 1x phone service, if any signal at all, but you can always get a satellite signal for a GPS. But, if not that, truck routing in their app would be nice. Sure, there are apps that do hazmat, oversize, and general truck routing, but really, nothing beats Google for accuracy, nor combines all the useful features I just mentioned.

Another moment for focus off the road

[Khyber]

Google needs to be slapped. No distraction is acceptable. Hands-Free laws mean hands-fucking-free. Almost every state has them.

Pedestrians to run over

[jfern]

Will it include pictures of good pedestrians to run over while you are operating a large object at high speeds while looking at your phone?