Google Maps is a fantastic tool that helps you find your way to unknown places, especially with street-level tools like Street View and Live View. But finding an address is pretty useless if you can’t find a way into the building. So Google Maps is preparing to change that.
Google Maps is testing a new feature that adds entrance indicator icons to select buildings. That way, you can head somewhere new with the help of Google Maps and not have to worry about determining which of those many doors is the right one. I found that to be especially true if you go to a faceless office building surrounded by faceless office buildings.
So far, Google only seems to be testing this with a small number of users and buildings, and it doesn’t look like I’m one of the lucky few. However, Android Police We were able to see the feature in action and noticed that building entrances only appear when you select a building and get close enough.
Judging by the screenshots the site took, new entries appear as a small white circle with a green outline and a green entry icon inside it. This is very similar to the entrances you may already see at public transportation stations around the world.
Some companies also appear to be dyeing all of their buildings red to help differentiate them from everything else. This could be quite useful.
Android Police points out that some of these input markers are incorrect, which is obviously a bigger problem than Google experimenting with different icon designs. Presumably, extensive data collection will be required before this feature can be implemented on a larger scale. After all, a general entry button for all publicly accessible locations is a much bigger task than adding them to major transit hubs.
This feature is likely still in the early stages, meaning it will need some work before it’s ready to roll out to more people. But, assuming Google gets it right, this could be incredibly useful for navigating to new and unfamiliar locations. I’m happy to wait.
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