From showing you the quickest morning commutes, to helping you stay safe on your ride home at the end of the day, Google Maps has a long history of building India-first features to keep Indians on the move, safely.
But we want to help with more than just getting from A to B. Starting today, we are happy to announce three new features in Google Maps available to Indian users on their phones: a redesigned, India-inspired Explore tab, a new For You experience, and dining Offers that help you find places you’re likely to enjoy with deals to make the experience even sweeter. Whether it's finding things to do in an area or getting offers on dining out, or recommending places and experiences, we hope Google Maps can now help you discover a new side to your city.
Explore tab: Ever since we launched the Explore tab, it has been a one-tap means of getting suggestions on dining, events, and things to do based on the area being viewed. But we wanted to make this experience even more helpful; to reflect the rich diversity of local neighborhoods and communities. Which is why we have redesigned the Explore tab for India.
We’ve heard that Indian Maps users prefer a more assistive and visual browsing experience that is easy to access. Based on top queries and the way people interact with Google Maps in India, we’ve added seven shortcuts that you can access from the Explore tab: Restaurants, Petrol Pumps, ATMs, Offers, Shopping, Hotels, and Medical Shops. Using machine learning, we automatically identify the top suggestions across these categories in every city.
In addition to exploring near your location, you can now also explore other popular neighborhoods in your city -- simply tap the arrow option next to “Explore Nearby”. Using machine learning, we’re able to automatically identify the top areas in every city. Besides your own city, you can also look up other Indian cities by just searching the city name -- an easy way to get up to speed before you travel.
For You: Didn’t know about that hip new cafe that opened up in a neighboring suburb? Now it’s easier than ever to stay in-the-know: tap the For You tab to get inspiration on new restaurants, trending places, and personalized recommendations tailored to your interests. This feature also uses the ‘Your Match’ score, which uses machine learning to combine what we know about millions of places with the information you’ve added -- restaurants you’ve rated, cuisines you’ve liked, and places you have visited. The first time you use this feature you can select the areas/localities you are interested in, and get more personalized and relevant recommendations over time.
Not only that, users can now ‘follow’ a business and get business updates, news on events and stay on top of any offers posted by them in the ‘For You’ tab. We’ll also recommend other businesses based on merchants you follow -- these interests are user-defined and also inferred by Google.
The For You tab offers a simple, assistive experience to help you discover your city with a single tap -- and it will continue to improve over time.
Offers: Everyone loves a good deal, but keeping track of offers from newspaper clippings or email announcements or through multiple apps can be hard — and lead to a bulging wallet. That's why we've added a way to discover local offers, starting with restaurants. We are launching an Offers section where you can find deals and claim them at restaurants across the top 11 Indian metros. Simply tap the ‘Offers’ shortcut in the Explore tab or filter for restaurants with offers. We’re launching this feature in partnership with EazyDiner, where you can now find offers for over 4,000 restaurants and hope to add many more categories and partners soon.
We can’t wait for you to try out these new features, and to discover those hidden gems in your city. Happy exploring!
Posted by Krish Vitaldevara, Director, Google Maps, and Chandu Thota, Director, Google Maps