Google Maps just keeps getting more interesting. Today, two fresh features came to light, and together, they’ll make it a lot easier for users to get their bearings in unfamiliar territory and plan multiple-stop outings wherever they may be.
Let’s start with My Location. For some time, this feature has allowed mobile users of Google Maps to have a small blue circle automatically show their location. But now it’s come to the regular version of Google Maps, so people with laptops who move around (or people who somehow wind up in front of unfamiliar desktops) can more easily determine their position and what’s around them.
Note: We couldn’t get My Location to work, but a post on the LatLong Blog states, “Currently, you can use My Location in Google Maps if you use Google Chrome, Firefox 3.5 or any other web browser with Gears installed. We hope to support other browsers soon too.”
Then there’s an apparently as-yet-unnamed feature (found by Alex Chitu) that allows users to overlay different maps from their recent search history. Efficiency experts should love it; if, for example, you want to get coffee, go shopping, see a movie, and grab pizza on the way home, you can search for all four different things, check a few boxes, and easily figure out waste the least amount of gas and time.
So if you’re doing a bit of traveling or just trying to save yourself some trouble, head over to Google Maps and check out the new offerings.
