Google has apparently started the large-scale rollout of Immersive View, its new AI-powered 3D navigation technology. Indeed, some users already have access to this impressive feature in several European cities.
Remember, in May 2022, Google unveiled during its Google I/O 2022 the new features to come on its main services, such as Google Maps. Among the new features planned for the mapping app, Immersive View has clearly made an impression.
With this amazing new technology, Google intends to revolutionize 3D navigation on its flagship application. Immersive View, or Immersive View in the language of Molière, combines billions of aerial images and Street View to display “a digital and enriched version of the world”.
Immersive View, the revolution of Google Maps
To give you an example, let’s say you want to prepare a visit to the Louvre Museum in Paris. With Immersive View, you can fly over the building and then go inside to locate the important points such as the cash desk, entrances/exits, the shop or the toilets, for example.
But that’s not all since Immersive View also displays other useful information such as the weather, road traffic or the frequentation of a place. For example, you can find out when a restaurant is busiest.
To create these realistic scenes, Google relies on neural radiation fields (NeRF), an advanced AI technique that transforms ordinary images into detailed 3D representations (lighting, textures, background, etc.).
Google continues to roll out Immersive View
During the initial presentation of its technology, Google announced that it would first be available in certain metropolises, such as Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, London or Tokyo.
However, as reported by several users on the Reddit thread /r/GoogleMaps, the feature is obviously being rolled out in some regions. In effect, some lucky residents in London and Berlin were able to access it. Be careful however, this version of Immersive View would be devoid of certain features, such as the display of live traffic or the weather.
Another interesting point, according to Reddit user Vegetable_Book_8493, Immersive View is rather heavy on mobile data. According to him, 30 minutes of navigation in Immersive View consumed 2 GB of data. You will therefore have to be vigilant with this feature, provided you are on Wi-Fi.
Source : 9To5Google
