Google has announced some new features to improve content recommendations when making travel plans using Google Maps. When you search for a new city, you"ll see recommended lists for places to go created by Maps community remembers and top sites.
In addition, Google Maps will curate restaurant lists titled, Trending, Top, and Hidden Gem, based on public interest in the area. Putting in it"s own words, Google explained:
The Trending list is updated weekly with places that have recently seen a spike in popularity on Maps. It’s ideal for helping you discover the latest hot spots.
The Top list is home to places the Maps community has consistently loved. Come here to find an area’s tried and true, longstanding favorites.
The Gems list is for places that might be a neighborhood"s best kept secret. It"s home to great restaurants that still fly under the radar.
Starting this week, these lists will show up in over 40 cities in the US and Canada. Google will start highlighting the best lists from its Maps community in the coming months. Speaking of community-sourced content, Google recently said it purged over 170 million fake reviews made on Search and Maps in 2023.
The search giant has sprinkled some more AI on Maps and announced it will use AI to show important stuff at a glance when you search for a place.
You can now get a good sense of a place and its highlights at a glance, powered by Google’s AI identifying key insights from the Maps community. Pull up a place on Maps and you’ll see photos and reviews that summarize what people love about it, like a restaurant’s famous tacos or the laid-back vibe at a bar.
Google is already experimenting with a generative AI feature that lets you input text prompts to discover new places to go. The feature is available to a limited pool of testers, Google announced last month.
Adding more customization to lists, Google will let you re-order the places you have added to your lists and link your social content such as reviews to the list items. These features will roll out globally for Android and iOS later this month.
After changing the color scheme on Google Maps, the company is working on some more design changes such as a a cleaner home screen with fewer tabs, and new pin colors, the company said.