Google Maps will now warn you about disasters and tell you how fast you’re going

Google has announced a Google Maps update will make the app even more useful when there is a natural disaster, while another helpful feature has been spotted by users. Google said in a blog post that the SOS alerts feature of Google Maps was improved by adding visual information during natural disasters, with a new navigation warning system to lead users away from danger. Google Maps’ SOS alerts already provide a summary of whatever is happening, the relevant news stories for an incident, emergency phone numbers and websites, and updates from local authorities. With the new update, the app will now also show detailed visualizations about hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods. A crisis notification card will automatically appear in the days before a hurricane hits, for those who are living near the expected impact area. The card links to a hurricane forecast cone, which shows predictions on the trajectory of the storm and the time that it is expected to hit locations. The cards for earthquakes, meanwhile, will display the shakemap, or the epicenter and magnitude with a color-coded visualization to show how intense the shaking was in certain areas. For floods, forecasts will show where they are likely to occur and the expected severity in some locales, though the feature is only available in India for now. Google Maps will further expand its disaster-related features in the summer, with the plan to roll out notifications when a person’s route is affected by a crisis activity. The app will also try to lead the person away from the incident by providing instructions on where to go. While Google Maps announced its expansion of SOS alerts to include disaster-related notifications, another new feature for the app was added without much fanfare. Android Police reported that some users have started seeing an option to display a speedometer while driving. The speedometer, which may be turned on through the app’s preferences under Navigation Settings, complements last week’s worldwide rollout of speed cameras and speed limits in Google Maps that further likens the app to Waze. Google Maps users will also have a new augmented reality mode to look forward to. The feature, which was first showcased in last year’s Google I/O and currently in testing, will utilize the smartphone’s camera to help determine exactly where they are, instead of having to orient themselves through the little blue dot. How often do you take screenshots of exciting destinations from travel blogs and TikTok videos but forget about them entirely when you’re planning your next vacation? Don’t fuss if the answer is “plenty.” The increasing information overload leaves little room for memories of a fascinating spot in another random part of the world. Thankfully, the new Gemini AI features in Google Maps can do just that, so your interesting saves don’t go buried under the myriad screenshots on your phone. After recently receiving Gemini’s superpowers to assist you in discovering places, Google Maps is gaining the ability to look through your screenshots to help you plan travels. The Maps app is getting a new “screenshot list” feature that will identify text from your screenshots and open up details on Google Maps. Google’s blog post also says you can save useful places in a list, which can be shared with others who might be traveling with you. Google is steadily rolling out contextual improvements to Gemini that make it easier for users to derive AI’s benefits across its core products. For example, opening a PDF in the Files app automatically shows a Gemini chip to analyze it. Likewise, summoning it while using an app triggers an “ask about screen” option, with live video access, too.
A similar treatment is now being extended to the Google Maps experience. When you open a place card in Maps and bring up Gemini, it now shows an “ask about place” chip right about the chat box. Gemini has been able to access Google Maps data for a while now using the system of “apps” (formerly extensions), but it is now proactively appearing inside the Maps application. The name is pretty self-explanatory. When you tap on the “ask about place” button, the selected location is loaded as a live card in the chat window to offer contextual answers.  If you’ve received an alert from Google Play Services to install an update but you can’t find, don’t worry: you aren’t alone. The error message warns that certain official Google apps won’t work unless you update through the Play Store, but no update is available. The problem seems to be affecting a wide number of people, many of whom took to social media to find an answer to the problem. Tipster CID (@theonecid) reports this same error, and it has been confirmed from several other outlets. The source of the bug isn’t clear, but it seems to affect users on both the stable and beta releases of Play Services.