Tons of people are excited for the upcoming 2016 Olympic Games in beautiful Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Athletes, coaches, fans, journalists and a number of other groups will be converging on the city in droves to get a piece of the action. Not everybody, of course, will be a local and know the city and its venues like the backs of their hands. Some, in fact, may have absolutely no clue where they’re going, where they are or where they need to be. With the guest list estimated at over half a million foreigners, having entire huge crowds of people wandering aimlessly about the city in search of the venue for an Olympic event could become a major issue. As it happens, Google announced on their Google Maps blog on Tuesday that they’re stepping up to help with that very issue.
Users of Google Maps will be able to view not only the outdoor maps around the various venues of the Olympic Games, but indoor maps showing things like stairs, entrances to seating sections, exits, and even bathrooms, as well as the lay of the land at the Olympic Golf Course. To sweeten the deal, the outdoor maps of the venues and areas around them will be enhanced to help visitors find their way in, find parking if needed and get around the venues to other parts of the city, if they’re not going to watch the games.
In order to access the indoor maps, all a user has to do is find a place that has indoor mapping available, zoom in close, then give the spot a click or tap. They’ll be presented with a map of ground floor on the inside, with all of the usual points of interest shown prominently, and a display in the bottom part of the screen that allows a user to check out different floors. The indoor mapping for all of the Olympic venues is already available, as is roughly 3 billion square feet of global indoor mapping in various spots. With this year’s Olympic Games taking place in a new and connected age, Google seems to be about as on-board with enhancing fans’ experiences as possible.
