Google announces the closure of Street View
03/11/2022The independent Google Street View application will stop working next March, as Google has reported. They also has confirmed that the service will remain active within Google Maps. At this moment, Street View works in parallel as an independent App in the Google and Apple stores and also as an integrated functionality of Google Maps, a duplication that is no longer considered necessary and for these reason it will disappear as an application next year, on march 21th. Street View allows users to explore, through real images, towns and cities of more than 65 countries, providing them panoramic views at ground level, and the possibility to choose which segments of the road they want to explore. The images that Google uses for this service are taken by vehicles, cars and tricycles, equipped with up to nine cameras. This vehicles just move around the world, taking the photos and generating three-dimensional data that are used on top of the images, in this case from Satellite, of each place.
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Google Maps introduces new search opcions of ecological routes
21/09/2022Google will incorporate in Google Maps , new ecological routes that will be able to guarantee a lower impact from vehicles on the environment and, also, minimize fuel consumption.This new functionality of more sustainable itineraries will be implemented in Europe during next weeks, after having been successfully tested in the United States and Canada, where, according to Google in a statement sent to Europa Press, they have contributed to avoiding more than half a million tons of carbon emissions, in only one year.To suggest the best ecological route, Google Maps will ask the user about the type of engine of the vehicle that is going to use and then will show the driver all his available itinerary options and an accurate estimate of the consumption efficiency of the vehicle.Additionally, the package of new Google Maps features also incorporates the option to activate the display of charging points for electric vehicles; new bike routes, and Live View option, to supervise streets in real time.
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Google Maps will use AI to update store hours
14/04/2022Google Maps will update the hours of more than 20 million businesses around the world in the next six months. To do this, they will use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and a self-developed machine learning model, which identifies shop hours that are not updated. Through this system, the AI will update the hours according to itsel predictions based on parameters such the last update of the shop's profile, the hours of nearby stores and the busiest hours in that location. In addition, the algorithm will take datas from Google Business, information from the store's website, if it has one, and images from Street View. In some countries, Google will also use Google Duplex conversational AI technology to make calls with the quality of a human voice to the stores and confirm their opening hours. In this list of countries, France will be the only European country where the telephone verification will be carried out. The rest of the countries are Argentina, Australia, Chile, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru and the United States.
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