Google Maps Updated

Today Google released updates for desktop, Android, and iOS that are designed to improve the visual experience. After updating Google Maps on the Huawei P9, Matthew Miller immediately saw the improvements with the orange shading of "areas of interest" throughout downtown Seattle. Google uses these new shaded areas to show users where there are a number of activities and events, perfect as visitors explore Seattle, and other areas around the world, this summer.

Google uses algorithms to determine these areas of interest so even in a busy city like New York the entire city isn't highlighted at once. Google's blog post states it is using a human touch to make sure it is showing the most active areas, which means there must be some actual Google employees verifying activities.

A color wheel was posted on the Google blog showing users maps features that are manmade, those with vegetation, those with water, and search results in red tints. Overall, I think Google Maps does look a bit cleaner with this update.