The mapping wars are all about rapid feature rollouts as tech giants battle for your local search and navigational engagement. Because mapping is a mature product – tied to the mature and supply-saturated smartphone market – growth for any app mostly comes from fixed-pie market-share gains.
Those market dynamics have fueled the feature blitzes we often see from Google Maps, Apple Maps, and the emerging crop of social mapping players like Snap and Instagram. But now there are other driving factors for rapid evolution in mapping, and they’re all about upgrading everything with AI.
For example, as Google continues to wage a space race against AI-native players like OpenAI and Perplexity, Gemini gets massive attention and investment. And as the product gets constantly upleveled, it’s also integrated across Google’s many user touchpoints. One of those touchpoints is Maps.
That brings us to the latest mapping feature blitz. Just a few weeks after the latest batch of Gemini-centric updates in Google Maps (see our coverage here), it’s out with a new set of features. True to the mapping wars, these are meant to gain an edge on Apple Maps, and the other challengers noted above.
Under the Hood
First on the list of the the latest feature updates is a “know before you go” tool. This is an option that appears whenever users click on a given map location. For example, in the case of a restaurant or hotel, it will offer inside intel like secret menu items, parking tips, or times when its less crowded.
As is the case with most Google AI features, this taps into Google’s knowledge base when it comes to places. Here, it’s tapping into Google Business Profiles and other site visitation data its been collecting for years. These existing data sources are Google’s AI training fuel (more on that in a bit).
Next on the list of updates is a new and improved Explore tab. Inspired from the heydey of SoLoMo apps like Foursquare, the Explore tab has alwys been a place to find trending spots nearby. Now with a dash of AI thrown in, users can swipe up to get more intelligent and conversational nearby recommendations.
Similarly, Google is upgrading another existing Maps function: EV charger info. Drivers can now see more granular detail than before, such as how many chargers will likely be available when they arrive. Like traffic projections, Google is using historical and real-time charger availability for predictive modeling.
Best Ingredients
Back to the broader fusion of mapping and AI, Google is prime position. If the competition for users among mapping apps is reinvented and redefined by who has the best AI, Google will likely win that game. In other words, among the above players – Apple, Meta, Snap, etc. – Google has the best AI.
Not only is Google investing heavily in Gemini and broader AI primacy, but it inherently has the best ingredients to work with. As the world’s search engine for the past 25+ years, it has a robust knowledge graph and insights about all of us. This is the best training data one can ask for in refining an AI engine.
Compare that to Apple, which has deep pockets for AI research and talent acquisition… but doesn’t have the data. In fact, because Apple’s core business is hardware, it positioned itself as the privacy-first player that doesn’t collect your data. That was smart at the time, but could it come back to bite the company?
All the above speaks on general levels for AI competitive advantage. Back to the main theme of this article – mapping – it’s a product category that could inherit AI capabilities from each company that builds it. That’s good news for Google, given all the above, and the fact that Maps is central to search.
Header image credit: Ed Wingate on Unsplash
