Google Maps is one of the most useful applications for users who need to be located in a certain geographical area and define the route they will take between one geographical point and another, making use of scrollable map images, as well as estimated time, recommended routes and event photography. by satellite; For this reason, the platform has made some changes for the benefit of its users.
This Friday it was known that the Google maps application has created a new widget that allows faster searches, with shortcuts to fine establishments such as nearby restaurants and gas stations, directly from the home screen on mobile phones.
Google Maps introduced its search widget for iOS mobiles in August, coinciding with the first betas of iOS 15 that enabled this function; now, the company has begun to bring it to Android for a reduced number of users in its v11.3.0 update, as XDA Developers warns.
The new Google Maps widget features a search bar at the top for entering terms or addresses, as well as four or eight buttons at the bottom with quick shortcuts, which dynamically adjust based on the chosen dimensions.
The eight buttons on this item allow you to directly access your home and work addresses, as well as check the location of nearby restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, coffee shops, hotels, or take-out establishments.
Complaints about dangerous routes
The application offers a route calculator for people who travel on foot, by car, bicycle, or public transport, which allows validating which option is the most convenient concerning the time in which the journey will take place.
However, the recommendations provided by the application are not always the most convenient for users, especially when it comes to hikers or athletes seeking to reach the top of a mountain, for example.
It was recently known that Google Maps was accused of recommending "potentially fatal" routes in these types of cases, which were denounced by preservation and mountaineering organizations in Scotland, as reported by CNN.
These organizations warned that hikers are frequently trapped on routes far from safe areas due to the recommendations of the Google application. The complainants even indicated that some of these recommendations include cliffs that can endanger the lives of athletes.
Last year, for example, in Russia there was the case of Sergey Ustinov, an 18-year-old who made use of the Google Maps application and was killed. According to reports, the young man was traveling on the road known as the Highway of Bones, located on the Kolymá Highway, which crosses the Russian Far East.
According to official reports, it is one of the coldest areas in the world. Two towns that exist on this highway, Oimiakón and Tomtor, are considered the coldest inhabited places on the planet, with temperatures as low as -71.2 ° C.
The young man was passing by and the radiator of his vehicle was damaged when he was hit by a tree stick. Then, Sergey Ustinov wanted to know what was the fastest route to reach his destination with his damaged car and decided to ask for help with the Google Maps application, which indicated an alternate road.
Although the road was empty, Sergey Ustinov and a friend who was accompanying him entered a road that has not been used since the 1970s and was very icy, so they were trapped in the middle of the unbearable cold. Finally, the 18-year-old died frozen and his companion had to be transferred to a health center due to his serious health condition.
@lktechsky
