Usually, when applications haven’t been updated in a long time, users can probably expect them to slowly fade out of existence, especially when it’s a Google app as they tend to do away with things that aren’t working for them, getting enough interaction from users, or seeing a boost in popularity. This was the fate of Google’s My Tracks application that they previously announced will be shutting down as of April 30th of this year. One might have expected the same thing to happen to My Maps, an application with a similar name and a slightly similar function. That isn’t the case, however, as Google has just gone through updating the My Maps app with a whole bunch of changes, including a brand new user interface for some heavy beautification.
If you’ve never used My Maps before there is a good chance you never knew what the old UI looked like, and if that’s the case you may not appreciate the new UI as much. Regardless of that, the app has been redesigned from the ground up (which includes the rework of the app’s look to include material design) to offer a much-improved experience to its users, both new and existing. Beyond the new UI style Google has added a bunch of other changes too.
The first of these changes can be experienced as soon as you open up the app, as Google now presents you with a little walkthrough guide on using the app and its different features. This should help all users become acquainted with the changes and speed up the process of onboarding while also making it simpler. Google also states that performance has been improved as well which is going to allow users to interact with the app much faster than before, and in this day and age when most people’s lives are hectic and filled with things to do, a speedy experience is a huge benefit. Part of the My Maps function is creating your own maps and adding pins for saved locations wherever you want, and the app now allows you to get directions to any of the saved locations you’ve accumulated. You can also explore images from street view within the app, and it’s now possible to view any images or videos which have been added from the web. If you’d like to give My Maps a try, you can pick it up from the Play Store as the update is live for everyone.
