Google is launching Live View, an augmented reality walker program that works with Google Maps in beta.
Google is launching a program augmented reality (AR = Augmented reality) with the name Live View that you will address to those who like to go for walks and in collaboration with Google Maps will guide them online giving them directions to their destination.
The app will be available on all iOS devices and Android that have AR system support. On iOS, that means ARKit-compatible devices, and on Android, that means all smartphones that support Google's ARcore, and if "Street View" is also available where you are.
The program has been available in an early Alpha mode to both Google Pixel users and Google Maps Local Guides since the beginning of the year, but will be available to everyone starting today. How soon you will receive it depends on when the upgrade will be done to you.
The early version had the ability to mark any location near the Maps, then press the "Instructions" button and then navigate to the "Walking" and then press the "Live View" that appears near the bottom of the screen. Of course, the Beta version should work in a similar way.
Live View is not designed with the idea of constantly looking at the map in front of you on your phone as you walk. Instead it has a quick, easy and extremely useful orientation, showing your course with large arrows that overlap in the real scene that your camera takes, so you do not have to move around looking constantly with your mobile phone. This makes it much easier to navigate to unfamiliar areas, which is extremely useful when traveling to an unknown country.
Google Maps will also receive various other upgrades, such as offline backups and more. This, as well as a new redesigned Timeline, which will only run on Android devices for 2019, should also be released to everyone in the coming weeks.
