Google Maps receives major upgrade with 'Ask Maps' AI feature and 3D redesign

Google Maps just got a major upgrade. A really major upgrade. In fact, according to Google, it's the biggest update to the company's mapping service in more than a decade.

What's new? Two features that have the power to change how users use the app entirely: Ask Maps and Immersive Navigation.

Ask Maps

The new AI feature, Ask Maps brings Google's most advanced Gemini models into the app. The goal: allow users to ask destination questions in a conversational way.

Users can get real specific, the company says, and ask questions like “My phone is dying — where can I charge it without having to wait in a long line for coffee?”

Ask Maps will then suggest locations where they can do exactly that. How accurate the suggestions are is another question.

Google Maps users can also provide Ask Maps with a list of locations they are planning to visit, and ask if there's anything interesting they should check out.

The company says that it "analyzes information from over 300 million places, including reviews from our community of more than 500 million contributors" in order to build each user's itinerary.

Ask Maps will also reference your previous preferences when recommending locations and businesses — for example, a type of restaurant.

Once a user picks a spot, Ask Maps says it can help book reservations at the restaurant, save the location to a list for a later date, and share locations with friends.

Immersive Navigation

What's a bigger deal than yet another Google app getting an AI feature? Answer: Immersive Navigation.

Google has basically introduced a whole new way to use Google Maps, with a redesign that the company is calling "a complete transformation of the navigation experience, with redesigned visuals and more intuitive guidance."

Immersive Navigation provides a 3D way to navigate in the app. The environment your avatar is driving through highlights important road details like lanes, crosswalks, traffic lights, and stop signs. Surrounding buildings, overpasses, and terrain will match more closely what they look like in real-life.

Google Maps is also getting a slew of smaller features: more advanced notices for your routes, more natural and conversational voice guidance, parking recommendations when approaching your destination, and real-time road disruption alerts.

And when you're deciding whether to continue using the current direction, or opting for an alternate route that the app discovers, Google Maps will now offer more context for your decision.

Ask Maps is rolling out today in the U.S. for iOS and Android devices, and will come to the desktop app later in the year. Immersive Navigation will begin to roll out today in the U.S. and expand over the next few months to eligible iOS and Android devices, CarPlay, Android Auto and cars with Google built-in.