Just in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Google has brought its signature geospatial animations to the city. Using Google Maps, users can point their phones at specific landmarks to see them come to life, including time-lapsed animations that show historical Snapshots of famous spots.
For example, pointing one’s phone at the Eiffel Tower reveals animated overlays of the landmark’s original architectural concepts – some of which were never built. Or, point your phone at the banks of the Seine to see structures that were built for the Exposition Universelle World Fair in 1900.
The feature can be accessed from within Google Maps, indicated by icons on supported structures. In addition to the above, subjects will expand and include places like Notre Dame Cathedral. And to scale/placeshift the feature, it can also be accessed from within Street View, anywhere in the world.
The point in all of this is part education, part exploration, and part novelty/fun. Moreover, it expands Google Maps’ use case from getting to a destination… to engaging with that destination after you arrive. Beyond landmarks, this has lots of implications for utility in displaying details around local businesses.
Getting the Ball Rolling
If any of the above sounds familiar, it’s because Google teased it at Google I/O in May. It also builds from several existing Google programs around immersive mapping and navigation. For example, geo-anchored animations stem from Google’s Live View navigation that offers 3D wayfinding arrows.
These place-based activations also build from Google’s Geospatial API. Utilizing all the visual and positional data in Street View, this API lets developers build immersive experiences like the Parisian animations. Meanwhile, Google is getting the ball rolling by building several experiences in house.
The other factor that makes this week’s launch new is that it brings these immersive geospatial activations to Google Maps for the first time, thus making them more discoverable and easier to access. Though 3D mapping seems like a no-brainer, the truth is that it’s been slow to gain consumer traction.
As for the “discoverable” part, 3D experiences will be displayed by an icon in the 2D mapping interface, as noted. So if there is an immersive animation available at a given location, Google will let you know that it’s there. Tapping on the icon then launches a guided experience such as the Parisian animations above.
More Oxygen
Going deeper into Google’s capabilities, all the above works because it taps into the geospatial data that it’s been building for years. It’s one of the few companies on the planet that can do this, though Apple continues to develop similar immersive chops that stem from its ongoing efforts to evolve Apple Maps.
Google Live View, for instance, lets users navigate using 3D arrows that guide them from a first-person perspective. It’s a good way to orient oneself when emerging from underground transit. Google has also added place-based info along routes, such as storefronts – the real opportunity, as noted.
To accomplish the latter, Google taps into its knowledge graph including Street View data and Google Business Profiles. The former lets devices “localize” by matching what the camera sees with Street View imagery (Apple does something similar). The latter then supplies all the business details.
With all that underlying data, Google decided that the technology deserves more play than its own apps and features like Google Live View. So the Geospatial API was born. This crowdsources innovation to developers. Now, planting such experiences right within Google Maps could give them more oxygen.
