By activating this new hidden feature on Google Maps, you can finally follow a route without stopping on the app

JVTech News By activating this new hidden feature on Google Maps, you can finally follow a route without stopping on the app

A new feature on Google Maps to facilitate navigation on smartphones

Almost a year ago, Google made a promise to us: to continue adding significant improvements to its flagship Directions app. Today, this promise seems to have been honored as the tech giant has just released a highly anticipated new feature: “Road in the blink of an eye”.

Directions-at-a-glance allows one to be able to “see route overview or updated ETA and next direction directly on the lock screen”. Before this feature was implemented, you had to completely unlock your phone to see all this information directly on the app.

Whether you’re by car, on foot, scooter or bike, the “at-a-glance route” functionality allows you to find your way without using your fingerprints or entering your password, making life much easier.

On the other hand, if you immediately launch the Google Maps app on your smartphone, you might not see any significant changes. This is normal, this option is not activated by default and to do so you must go to the navigation settings by clicking on your profile. Once this option is checked, your journey will become easier and you will finally have relevant, up-to-date information throughout your route.

Why so long before deployment on Google Maps?

Although initially we were supposed to benefit from such a feature for a while, things turned out to be a real obstacle course for Google. Indeed, the GDPR that applies in the European Union is particularly restrictive because the functionality dictates that Google must collect and store your personal browsing data for the sole purpose of improving your experience. This will significantly explain the fact that this option is disabled by default in your application.

So the project stayed in Google’s box for over a year, time to refine the last details to make it fully compatible with the RGDP in Europe. We finally got a taste of it just a year after its initial planned launch.

This new feature is added at the same time as allowing you to blur your home so it won’t show up on Google Maps. We wonder what else Google has in store for us to improve its quality of service on Google Maps. What seems almost certain is that the tech giant does not intend to stop there.