Google Maps makes it easier for users to submit corrections and gets a new icon

The Android and iOS apps of Google Maps are getting an update today, which includes a new icon and the home screen gets extra tabs. This makes it easier for users to pass on additions. Google Maps is 15 years old today.

Anyone who opens Google Maps after the update will see three new tabs at the bottom of the home screen: Saved, Contributions and Updates. The For you tab will be discontinued with the update. In Saved, users can see locations that other users have saved and where they have been. Google gives examples of bakeries and restaurants. This tab also displays a user’s saved locations.

Contributions make it easier for visitors to upload information to Google. This concerns information such as roads, addresses and missing locations. Reviews and photos can also be uploaded here. Presumably, Google wants to ensure that forwarding information becomes more accessible and more local information is sent to the company.

The Updates tab provides users with a ‘trending locations’ feed. This concerns locations that have been tipped off by ‘experts and publishers’. Users can also forward tips about locations. This tab is very similar to the For you tab. The Google Maps icon is also new with the update: this is now a thumbtack with different colors.

In addition to the new features that are immediately available, Google also announces that it wants to expand the public transport predictions this year. Last year, Google introduced an indication of crowding in certain public transport modes, such as buses. From March, estimated information must also be provided there about the temperature, accessibility, presence of a women’s compartment, security and the number of wagons available.

Google says the availability of this feature will vary by region and carrier. Information for this functionality will come from previous travelers. Users can fill in a short questionnaire for this.

Live View, the function with which Maps can display route directions for hikers in the camera image, should also be expanded this year. Users should soon be able to quickly see how far they are from their destination and in which direction they should walk.