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One of my small concerns when using Google Maps in a new city or country is the lack of crosswalk details for walking routes. The app can tell me that it takes twenty minutes to get from one point to another, but it could actually be a lot more than that when you factor in crosswalks, especially if those aren’t exactly on my way but require a little detour. Google is now starting to address this by rolling out very precise street details in four major cities, which include crosswalks, pedestrian islands, and more.
The change was announced last year in August, but we didn’t get a glimpse of it in action until December. Now it looks like the rollout is reaching more users, even though it’s still not live for everyone. We also know the four cities where these details will be available:
- London, United Kingdom (central London)
- New York City, United States
- San Francisco, United States
- Tokyo, Japan (central Tokyo)
To check it, visit one of these cities on your phone and zoom in enough to get to street level. Once there, and if the feature is live for you, you will notice several improvements. Road width, rounded corners and even roadside vegetation will be accurately represented. Crosswalks, medians, and pedestrian blocks will be marked so you know exactly where to cross to access the street. And the parks will display the actual width of the trails in dark green as well as the stairs in gray, providing better accessibility information for anyone in a wheelchair or with a stroller.
We’ve taken some comparative screenshots of the four cities below, to show you what to expect.
Tokyo
Left: Tokyo intersection before. Right: Now with crosswalks.
London
Left: London roads and front park. Right: Pedestrian crossings, pedestrian islands and vegetation along the road.
New York
Left: Central Park front. Right: Notice the more realistic paths (dark green) and stairs (gray).
San Francisco
Left: Major intersection in San Francisco before. Right: Road width and precise curves, pedestrian crossings, pedestrian islands.
These street-level details are rolled out as a server-side update regardless of the Maps app version and beta status. Even on the same device, you might notice that they appear when you’re signed in with one account, but come back when you switch to another.
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