Google Maps navigation is about to get more personal – could use your photos and calendar to automatically plan trips
This addition could make navigation so much more seamless
Quick Summary
Code pointing to Gemini Personal Intelligence working within Google Maps has been found, suggesting that Maps is going to get more powerful.
If Maps has access to more of your information, you should be able to plan your route without having to switch back and forth between different apps.
Google might be planning to link Google Maps to various other applications to take advantage of its Gemini -powered Personal Intelligence feature. That could see Maps having instant access to a lot more information and avoid frequent app switching.
Personal Intelligence was announced by Google at the beginning of the year. The Gemini system has access to information from across Google's apps like Gmail and Photos, so that Gemini (in all its forms) can be more useful.
Code has now been discovered in the Google Maps beta that points to the feature coming to the popular navigation app, which could reduce the number of steps you need to make when planning a route or trip.
As uncovered by Android Authority, there are code strings within the Google Maps beta that directly reference the new feature, saying "Supercharge Maps with Personal Intelligence".
There's a lengthier description, saying that information about reservations and flights will be available directly in maps. That could mean if you're trying to figure out where you're supposed to be, you don't have to jump back and forth into your calendar or start searching through Gmail.
This leans on Google's Connected Content Apps and it's something that Gemini can already do. For example, you can ask Gemini where you need to be today and it will pull that information from your Calendar.
Personal Information works across Contacts, Google Photos, Google Workspace (that's Gmail, Drive and Calendar), Search, as well as YouTube.
Android Authority speculates that Google is going to use the Ask Maps feature as the starting point for this. Ask Maps is the Gemini-powered conversational side of Google Maps. It's not universally available yet (I still have the old voice search in Maps in the UK), but it make sense for Google to use this.
With all these dots joined, you should be able to open Google Maps and access a wide range of information. You won't have to go and dig it out elsewhere and copy it to another app. That should speed up route planning and navigation, making things more seamless.
That's also thought to expand to things like accessing Google Photos to ask about places that you previously visited in the area.
Gemini can do some of this already and there is a big question mark over all of this: if every app is getting Gemini powers, why not just start every interaction in Gemini and have it supply the final Google solution that you need?
As this is currently in beta, there's no telling when it might appear on Android phones.
