Google updates Maps & Places for quicker location discovery

Android News

Google updates Maps & Places for quicker location discovery

July 26, 2010 | by Andrew Kameka

Android Apps, Google, Travel

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Android 1.6+ users with Google Maps should be able to find “an even better way to find places nearby” thanks to an update from Google. There is now an updated version of Maps that offers direct access to Places, which should help people looking to discover what business are located nearby.

Places can now provide quick access for locating restaurants, hotels, bars, attractions, ATM’s, gas stations, or user-defined categories for common searches. The icon can be placed on the homescreen for quick access, and a search will lead to an improved version of Place Pages with details that were not previously seen in the mobile version of the site. Now you’ll get pricing, parking, hours, and menu information when available.

Google has made it clear that it wants to be the go-to-source for information, and Places is an important part of that strategy in the mobile sector. To enable the new features, download Google Maps to an Android 1.6 or higher phone. You should then see places available in your homescreen launcher.

android apps, Google, Google apps, Google Maps, location, location awareness, Places, Travel

10 Comments

Brian Klippel says:

July 26, 2010 at 6:48 pm

Here's a rather important determination that I came to after being presented with updates for both Maps and Places – If you already have the standalone Places app installed, you should uninstall it before updating Maps. The new Maps breaks the Places app, and makes it obsolete.
Brian E says:

July 26, 2010 at 6:57 pm

The places option needs to list gas prices for the gas stations that it finds. Does anyone know of a gas price app for android other than the option inside of the Where app?
Dom S says:

July 26, 2010 at 3:38 pm

HTC Incredible here…installed the update and no Places icon in the app list. Anyone else?
- Eli says:
  
  July 26, 2010 at 7:47 pm
  
  Same here. HTC Incredible not listing Places icon. Even after reboot.
- Eli says:
  
  July 26, 2010 at 7:53 pm
  
  Found out this feature won't work on users with HTC Sense, since they're using their own search widget..
  - Eli says:
    
    July 26, 2010 at 7:56 pm
    
    Took a while, now seeing the Places icon on my HTC Incredible. So I installed the update, rebooted, then 10 minutes later, it appeared! (v2.1 w/ HTC Sense UI). Works Great!
  - Himeki says:
    
    July 30, 2010 at 6:00 pm
    
    I have the incredible and only noticed the places app. It works awesome.
ShadyCraig says:

July 26, 2010 at 4:17 pm

Personally I don’t find Places very useful, as the listings aren’t very current (in my region). The functionality is great though. I use Qype and really enjoy that as you can add your own places and update places that have already been added.
Doug says:

July 27, 2010 at 6:20 pm

Places isn't showing up on my Eris. Anyone else having that problem?
- Doug says:
  
  July 28, 2010 at 1:12 am
  
  It showed up about an hour after I updated. Very strange, but a nice addition to my phone that will come in handy soon.