Google Maps begins rolling out way more detailed street-level information in select cities

Google Maps has begun rolling out more accurate data and way more detailed street-level information in a handful of cities around the world. The areas where more detailed geographical features are available: Central London, Tokyo, San Francisco, and New York.

Enhanced street-level features

As noted by AndroidPolice, customers who live in the aforementioned cities should now start seeing significantly more detailed street-level information, such as shapes and widths that match the scale of roads more accurately, and more.

Now road widths, rounded corners, and roadside vegetation are all represented more accurately. Enhanced graphical representations of other features are also available. Pictured below is a side-by-side comparison of Red Rock State Park in Sedona, Arizona, with the old version of Google Maps on the left and the new version on the right.

Google Maps will also show the desert landscape much better.

AndroidPolice explains:

Crosswalks, medians, and pedestrian islands will be pointed out, so you know exactly where to cross to street. And parks will show the real width of pathways in dark green as well as any stairs in grey, providing better accessibility info for anyone in a wheelchair or with a stroller.

To see these features, zoom in on Google Maps

Google Maps design overhaul

Google announced in August that its mapping service would soon be getting a lot more detail, making natural features easier to see and streets easier to navigate. The design overhaul for Google Maps also makes it easy to distinguish tan, arid beaches, and deserts from blue lakes, rivers, oceans, and ravines. You can clearly see vegetation and whether there are snow caps on the peaks of mountaintops.

According to Sujoy Banerjee, who is Product Manager for Google Maps:

Exploring a place gives you a look at its natural features—so you can easily distinguish tan, arid beaches and deserts from blue lakes, rivers, oceans and ravines. You can know at a glance how lush and green a place is with vegetation, and even see if there are snow caps on the peaks of mountaintops.

Apple has also been trying to create more detailed and accurate maps. In 2019, the iPhone maker started delivering enhanced maps in select cities with way more granular detail than before. Last December, the enhanced Apple Maps experience was launched in Canada.

Image credit: Google