Google Maps is undeniably one of Google’s best offerings — Maps completely revolutionised how we navigate around and learn about what is around us. Google’s latest Maps update brings a social feed into the app.
The new “Community Feed” aggregates the latest in local updates from Local Guides including business updates, reviews, images, ratings and answers to questions asked via maps. It also provides an opportunity for local business to provides updates and includes content from chosen publishers.
It will be interesting to see how this feature is adopted, and if it remains long term. Unfortunately with Google we’re almost at the stage of just not trusting any new feature because there’s a good chance it just won’t last. The update is rolling out worldwide on Android and iOS now.
The update with this is already here. After trying it, I hope this dogfood alpha build community feed “Latest in ‘place'” is either removed from Maps on Android, or comprehensively debugged to at least proper public beta quality code. Instead of showing me the latest on a topic, in my suburb, tapping on any topic makes Maps zoom out to show places all over Brisbane which match the topic. Testing this further, using Japan, I looked at Futako-Tamagawa as the area, and ‘Outdoor dining’ as topic. Maps called up a place well away from Futako-Tamagawa, in Shibuya. The recommendations overlay… Read more »