However, at launch, Apple Maps received significant criticism from users due to inaccuracies, errors and bugs. The first mobile version of Google Maps (then known as Google Local for Mobile) was launched in beta in November 2005 for mobile platforms supporting J2ME. Google Maps is available as a mobile app for the Android and iOS mobile operating systems. For areas where Google used Tele Atlas data, map errors could be reported using Tele Atlas map insight. On August 9, 2013, this service was discontinued, and on March 22, 2017, Google incorporated the features from Latitude into the Google Maps app.

Google Maps provides a route planner, allowing users to find available directions through driving, public transportation, walking, or biking. Routing would take into account the type of vehicle, vehicle status including current charge, and the locations of charging stations. In January 2021, Google announced that it would be launching a new feature displaying COVID-19 vaccination sites. In December 2019, Incognito mode was added, allowing users to enter destinations without saving entries to their Google accounts.

In 2019 the Android version introduced the new feature called live view that allows to view directions directly on the road thanks to augmented reality. In December 2017, Google added a new two-wheeler mode to its Android app, designed for users vegas casino apk download in India, allowing for more accessibility in traffic conditions. Up until iOS 6, the built-in maps application on the iOS operating system was powered by Google Maps. A version specifically for Windows Mobile was released in February 2007 and the Symbian app was released in November 2007. Google said it was looking into the naming of the two locations and consulting with “local and authoritative sources” to solve the issue.

Industry-leading data protection

In August 2018, the desktop version of Google Maps was updated to show a 3D globe. Much of the available satellite imagery is no more than three years old and is updated on a regular basis, according to a 2011 report. After additional acquisitions of a geospatial data visualization company and a real-time traffic analyzer, Google Maps was launched in February 2005.

Control your data with confidence

In August 2017, Google Maps for Android was updated with new functionality to actively help the user in finding parking lots and garages close to a destination. At the end of 2015 Google Maps announced its new offline functionality, but with various limitations – downloaded area cannot exceed 120,000 square kilometers and require a considerable amount of storage space. The original standalone iOS version did not support the iPad, but tablet support was added with version 2.0 in July 2013. In September 2008, Google Maps was released for and preloaded on Google’s own new platform Android. In November 2016, Google announced the discontinuation of Google Map Maker as of March 2017. If imagery was missing, outdated, misaligned, or generally incorrect, one could notify Google through their contact request form.

In February 2025, as a response to Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14172, the Gulf of Mexico was relabeled to “Gulf of America” for US users and “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)” elsewhere, except for Mexico itself where it remained the Gulf of Mexico. Also in November 2023, Google apologized after users were directed through desert roads after parts of Interstate 15 were closed due to a dust storm. According to the lawsuit, multiple people had notified Google about the state of the bridge, which collapsed in 2013, but Google had not updated the route information and continued to direct users over the bridge. Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service ranger Roger James said, “People should not trust Google Maps when they’re travelling in remote regions of Queensland and they need to follow the signs, use official maps or other navigational devices.” In December 2015, 3 Japanese netizens were charged with vandalism after they were found to have added an unrelated law firm’s name as well as indecent names to locations such as “Nuclear test site” to the Atomic Bomb Dome and “Izumo Satya” to the Izumo Taisha.

The company has stated that “it would update the program during the year to allow users to plan trips which include locks, bridges and towpaths along the 2,000 miles of river paths in the UK.” In June 2012, Google started mapping the UK’s rivers and canals in partnership with the Canal and River Trust. On January 31, 2012, Google, due to offering its Maps for free, was found guilty of abusing the dominant position of its Google Maps application and ordered by a court to pay a fine and damages to Bottin Cartographer, a French mapping company. On April 19, 2011, Map Maker was added to the American version of Google Maps, allowing any viewer to edit and add changes to Google Maps.

Google Local Guides

• You can search for places and locations with Google Maps.
• Timeline estimates the mode of travel used to move between places and will also show photos taken at that location.
• Crowdsourcing is used to obtain the GPS-determined locations of a large number of cellphone users, from which live traffic maps are produced.
• Google allows business owners to create and verify their own business data through Google Business Profile (GBP), formerly Google My Business (GMB).
• Street map overlays, in some areas, may not match up precisely with the corresponding satellite images.

It notably added a brand-new app icon, which now resembles the original icon in 2005. In August 2018, Google Maps designed its overall view (when zoomed out completely) into a 3D globe droppingdisputed – discuss the Mercator projection that projected the planet onto a flat surface. In May 2018, Google announced major changes to the API structure starting June 11, 2018.

On April 29, 2015, users of the classic Google Maps were forwarded to the new Google Maps with the option to be removed from the interface. However, as a result, Google disabled user moderation on Map Maker, and on May 12, disabled editing worldwide until it could devise a new policy for approving edits and avoiding vandalism. In August 2013, Google Maps removed the Wikipedia Layer, which provided links to Wikipedia content about locations shown in Google Maps using Wikipedia geocodes.

See how people are using Google Maps to explore what’s around them, put their communities on the map, and help others

• After the success of reverse-engineered mashups such as chicagocrime.org and housingmaps.com, Google launched the Google Maps API in June 2005 to allow developers to integrate Google Maps into their websites.
• In May 2015, searches on Google Maps for offensive racial epithets for African Americans pointed the user to the White House; Google apologized for the incident.
• On September 23, 2020, Google announced a COVID-19 Layer update for Google maps, which is designed to offer a seven-day average data of the total COVID-19-positive cases per 100,000 people in the area selected on the map.
• The body of water was not labelled on the map; Iran said Google would see “serious damages” if the gulf was not named on the map.
• Google Maps’ satellite view is a “top-down” or bird’s-eye view; most of the high-resolution imagery of cities is aerial photography taken from aircraft flying at 800 to 1,500 feet (240 to 460 m), while most other imagery is from satellites.
• For areas where Google used Tele Atlas data, map errors could be reported using Tele Atlas map insight.

By triangulating the different signal strengths from cell transmitters and then using their location property (retrieved from the database), My Location determines the user’s current location. In 2017, the app was reported to have two billion users on Android, along with several other Google services including YouTube, Chrome, Gmail, Search, and Google Play. Google Maps offers an API that allows maps to be embedded on third-party websites, and offers a locator for businesses and other organizations in numerous countries around the world. For example, if you search for ‘Italian restaurant’ from your mobile device, you can get local results. You can search for places and locations with Google Maps. The Android version of the app surpassed five billion installations in March 2019.

Timeline

In July 2009, Google began mapping college campuses and surrounding paths and trails. Google stated, “Once you disable or opt out of My Location, Maps will not continue to send radio information back to Google servers to determine your handset’s approximate location”.failed verification The incognito mode, eyes-free walking navigation features were released earlier.

Hands-free help with the Google Assistant

However, police later revealed that local students had carried out the prank. In May 2015, searches on Google Maps for offensive racial epithets for African Americans pointed the user to the White House; Google apologized for the incident. Because many companies utilize Google Maps data, these previously obscure or incorrect names then gain traction; the names are often used by realtors, hotels, food delivery sites, dating sites, and news organizations. For example, the South Tibet region claimed by China but administered by India as a large part of Arunachal Pradesh is shown inside the Chinese frontier by google.cn, with Indian highways ending abruptly at the Chinese claim line.

As of 2007, Google Maps was equipped with a miniature view with a draggable rectangle that denotes the area shown in the main viewport, and “Info windows” for previewing details about locations on maps. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panoramic views of streets (Street View), real-time traffic conditions, and route planning for traveling by foot, car, bike, air (in beta) and public transportation. An update in June 2012 for Android devices added support for offline access to downloaded maps of certain regions, a feature that was eventually released for iOS devices, and made more robust on Android, in May 2014. However, with the announcement of iOS 6 in June 2012, Apple announced that they had created their own Apple Maps mapping service, which officially replaced Google Maps when iOS 6 was released on September 19, 2012. Version 2.0 of Google Maps Mobile was announced at the end of 2007, with a stand out My Location feature to find the user’s location using the cell towers, without needing GPS.

Several factors, primarily relevance, distance and prominence, influences the local results. To turn on 3D Touch, go to the Settings app  General  Accessibility  3D Touch. You can get information about the place like the address, hours of operation, phone number, website and ratings or reviews. In the ‘Recents’ tab, you can review, save and share recent searches. To check the entire map and hide the side panel, on the right side of the panel, click the Arrow .

Since 2016, Google Maps has displayed both Persian Gulf and Arabian Gulf on the body of water and shows “either Arabian or Persian Gulf to local users, depending on geolocation and language settings.” Google.cn/maps (formerly Google Ditu) uses the GCJ-02 system for both its street maps and satellite imagery. As a result, in March 2008 Google added a feature to edit the locations of houses and businesses. Users who are logged into a Google Account can save locations so that they are overlaid on the map with various colored “pins” whenever they browse the application. At the I/O 2022 event, Google announced Immersive View, a feature of Google Maps which would involve composite 3D images generated from Street View and aerial images of locations using AI, complete with synchronous information. On September 23, 2020, Google announced a COVID-19 Layer update for Google maps, which is designed to offer a seven-day average data of the total COVID-19-positive cases per 100,000 people in the area selected on the map.

Directions and transit

Google has stated that the speed and location information it collects to calculate traffic conditions is anonymous. In 2007, Google began offering traffic data as a colored overlay on top of roads and motorways to represent the speed of vehicles on particular roads. In February 2024, Google Maps started rolling out glanceable directions for its Android and iOS apps. Google has partnered globally with over 800 public transportation providers to adopt GTFS (General Transit Feed Specification), making the data available to third parties.

Bringing your map to life, one image at a time

In December 2012, the Google Maps application was separately made available in the App Store, after Apple removed it from its default installation of the mobile operating system version iOS 6 in September 2012. This provides Google with local map updates almost in real-time instead of waiting for digital map data companies to release more infrequent updates. On September 23, 2008, coinciding with the announcement of the first commercial Android device, Google announced that a Google Maps app had been released for its Android operating system.

In September 2022, Google removed the COVID-19 Layer from Google Maps due to lack of usage of the feature. In January 2021, Google announced updates to the route planner that would accommodate drivers of electric vehicles. It also features a label indicating the rise and fall in the number of cases.

In April 2025, an update was released for Google Maps that more explicitly displayed the “West Philippine Sea” label for parts of the South China Sea claimed by the Philippines. The body of water was not labelled on the map; Iran said Google would see “serious damages” if the gulf was not named on the map. Google said in a statement, “While we always work to provide the best directions, issues can arise due to unforeseen circumstances such as weather. We encourage all drivers to follow local laws, stay attentive, and use their best judgment while driving.”