oogle has added a new walking view for its Google Mobile Maps for Android, version 4.5.
The update, which dropped Thursday night, allows users to set walking directions for navigating through local areas. In some cases, the walking paths will correspond to the streets that a user is already walking; in others, local walking trails and other thoroughfares will be used.
Google's mobile Maps app defaults to a satellite view, so that users can get a sense for the landmarks and streets around them, Andrey Ulanov and Kevin Law, both software engineers for Google, wrote in a blog post.
Users can also turn off the voice navigation feature, and allow the phone to merely vibrate when the user needs to consult it to make a turn.
Local search has also been enhanced, with the ability to filter results by distance, or to get an idea of a restaurant's prices by filtering via price (represented by dollar signs, and a feature that's also included on the Yelp application).
Finally, Google also updated its Street View on Google Maps application, which must be downloaded in a separate app. The new version eliminates the "click arrow to scroll" navigation that allows one to virtually move down a street with an complicated routine that requires users to slide the "PegMan" icon in the lower left to a new location elsewhere in the frame.
