From displaying morning commutes to showing metro times, Google Maps has a long history of building India-first features to keep Indians on the move. But, aiming to give users more than just going from point A to point B, Google today announced three new features -- a redesigned, India-inspired Explore tab, a new For You experience, and dining Offers.
Explore tab
The Explore tab has always been one-tap means of getting suggestions on dining, events, and things to do based on the area being viewed. In the redesigned Explore tab, Google has added seven shortcuts that you can access from the Explore tab: Restaurants, Petrol Pumps, ATMs, Offers, Shopping, Hotels, and Medical Shops. Using machine learning, Google automatically identify the top suggestions across these categories in every city.
In addition to exploring near your location, you can now also explore other popular neighbourhoods in your city -- simply tap the arrow option next to ‘Explore Nearby.’
For You
For you shows new restaurants, trending places, and offers personalised recommendations tailored to your interests. This feature also uses the ‘Your Match’ score, which uses machine learning to combine what Google knows about millions of places with the information you’ve added -- restaurants you’ve rated, cuisines you’ve liked, and places you have visited. The first time you use this feature you can select the areas/localities you are interested in, and get more personalised and relevant recommendations over time.
Users can now ‘follow’ a business and get business updates, news on events and stay on top of any offers posted by them in the ‘For You’ tab. Google says it will also recommend other businesses based on merchants you follow -- these interests are user-defined and also inferred by Google.
Offers
Everyone loves a good deal, but keeping track of offers from newspaper clippings or email announcements or through multiple apps can be hard. And to make it easy for users to discover offers, Google is adding offers section within Maps.
‘We are launching an Offers section where you can find deals and claim them at restaurants across the top 11 Indian metros. Simply tap the ‘Offers’ shortcut in the Explore tab or filter for restaurants with offers. We’re launching this feature in partnership with EazyDiner, where you can now find offers for over 4,000 restaurants and hope to add many more categories and partners soon,’ Google said.