Navigate around these sharp corners Pastel color schemes that adapt to your taste and buttons with low-radius corners are the hallmarks of the Material You design scheme for Android and it's been taking over Google's apps one by one. We're now seeing a drip and a drop of its essence coming down to Maps. The Russian-based Telegram group Google Pixels has picked up on a new navigation bar design with chip-shaped highlights indicating which tab a user is currently on — as seen today, the icons are colored-in. Read More Material You styling is en route to Google Maps was written by the awesome te ..read more

This seems like it should have already been a thing Despite having a worldwide presence, Google can often be depressingly myopic when it comes to thinking of other countries. Case in point: Android Auto has been around for six years, and only now is Google thinking about optimizing Maps for countries where people drive on the left (with a car's steering wheel on the right), representing more than a billion people. According to the latest Google Maps support update, the app running on Android Auto should now automatically justify its user interface elements to the left or right, depending on w ..read more

Users are hearing an unexpected voice, but a fix is on the way Turn-by-turn navigation is great — especially when you're headed somewhere new. It's all too easy to miss your exit while jamming out on a road trip, but with a quick prompt from Google's voice directions, you'll know precisely when to merge into that right lane. The last thing anyone needs while driving is the surprise of an unexpected voice echoing out of their car's speakers, but that's just what's happening with a bug in Maps. Read More No, your Google Maps voice navigation isn't haunted was written by the awesome team at Andr ..read more

Is it a daily necessity or something just for road trips? It's Labor Day weekend here in the US, marking the unofficial end of summer. Students are returning to school, pools and water parks are closing for the season, and soon enough, your neighbor will coat their home in Halloween decorations. That's not to say you can't squeeze in a final road trip, of course, and Google Maps is the perfect app to get you wherever you want to go. The days of paper maps are long gone, with Google's navigation service able to detect accurate traffic patterns, alternate routes, and with the help of user repor ..read more

And you'll need to agree to it if you want to keep using it — but you were already doing it anyway Google Maps has become an essential tool in our lives, be it for getting around or just knowing places. The navigation features, including turn-to-turn navigation, allow us to drive to places and not get lost in the process, and have come extremely handy ever since I've started using a car since I always seem to make wrong turns and end up getting lost. Now, Google Maps users will start showing users prompts on how crowdsourced data is essential for the app, and you'll have to agree if you want ..read more

It would be a huge help to anyone trying to get around as cheaply as possible Google constantly tweaks its Maps program to make it more useful for users (and, admittedly, all the businesses that pay to advertise in the app and on the web). According to a message sent to members of the Google Maps preview program, the next major feature to be added will be automatic display of prices for tolls on roads, bridges, and other potentially expensive additions to your navigation route. Confirmation came from a member of the preview program who was instructed to take a survey in order to direct the Ma ..read more

Google account sign-ins will be blocked in September When was the last time you thought about your old Gingerbread phone? Google launched Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich to the public nearly ten years ago, ushering in the days of its Tron-inspired Holo UI, but some legendary Android devices — including the Moto Droid X, HTC Evo 4G, and Samsung's original Galaxy S — never made the jump. If you're still holding onto a phone running Gingerbread, it's about to get a whole lot harder to use with Google services. Read More Your ancient Android Gingerbread phone is about to become even more useless w ..read more

Expanded crowdedness indicators with live per-car info in some cities, travel "Insights," and some tweaks to reviews, plus general advice I hesitate to say this year is worst than last year, but there are still a lot of things we're adjusting to when it comes to day-to-day life — especially out and about while traveling. We might have been able to hunker down for the last year, but with things like work obligations and family that haven't seen us in ages, we can't stay at home forever. To make it all a bit easier, Google Maps is rolling out a few new tools to help you navigate the "new normal ..read more

Not your Chrome bookmarks, something older and less-used, and it won't affect your starred locations in Google Maps (which makes sense once you read) Update A Google spokesperson has explicitly confirmed that you have absolutely nothing to worry about when it comes to starred locations, as we suspected: "Starred Locations in Google Maps aren’t going anywhere. Google is killing its now-ancient and practically unknown Google Bookmarks service. It's niche, but Google Bookmarks actually dates back to 2005 and let you save a URL together with a name, label, and notes to the big, scary, 2005-era ..read more

Monthly travel stats derived from your timeline Update Insights is now arriving for more users Google Maps keeps track of your daily timeline, and though its level of accuracy can feel a little too invasive, it's an excellent tool for tracking vacations, road trips, and any other travel. Timeline is getting a fresh coat of paint, along with a couple of new features to help you track your activity on an even deeper level. The new Insights tab now appears to be rolling out to more users. Read More Google Maps: Nifty new Insights feature is now rolling out more widely was written by the aweso ..read more