Google hosted its Google For India event today where the tech giant has gone hard on Gemini. Launched in August with only English support, Gemini Live now supports 9 Indian languages including Hindi. Along with that, Google also announced a quite interesting feature in Google Maps. Google Maps now has the ability to real-time weather updates in the app. If I dumb it down a little, you can now report and get alerts on fog and flooding on the roads. During monsoon, many roads in India get waterlogged, leading to massive traffic jams. This feature will help you dodge those kind of roads. According to Google, the data will be based on the user feedback that they will provide to the Maps app.
Not just this, Google has also sprinkled a pinch of AI into Google Maps. Adding to this, Snigdha Bhardwaj, Director, Search and Generative AI Trust Strategy, Google said, “we’ve been using AI to strengthen scam mitigation measures. Since last year we’ve prevented scams of over Rs 13,000 crore and issued 40 million warnings to safeguard Indian users. On Google Maps, AI-powered solutions helped us remove 170 million policy violating reviews.”
AI features in Google Maps include AI-summarised reviews feature. The tech giant has promised a quick summary of restaurants, hotels, and other things so that you don’t have to waste time searching the places one by one and reading about them.
Apart from this, Google Maps has rolled out six new features to enhance navigation and travel. One update uses AI to help drivers avoid narrow roads. Users in 40 towns in India can now see flyover alerts on their routes for easier navigation. Plus, with the increase in electric vehicles, Google Maps now shows nearby EV charging stations.