Google released version 6.7 of the company's Maps for Android application on Wednesday, adding support for local offers as well as indoor walking directions for participating businesses.The update is live now in the Google Play Store, Google said.
Google added three key features to the new update: local Offers, the indoor walking directions, and new interior photos of businesses that can be used as ads of sorts to convey what the interior of a store looks like. Google has encouraged store owners to add these photos, but participation is voluntary.
While Google has encouraged users to sign up for its daily-deals Offers program, the Maps update is the first time Google itself has shown the proximity of local deals. A number of other services - Push a Deal, Facebook Offers, AmazonLocal by Amazon, and others - have attempted to display local deals on a map or by proximity to the user. Google's Maps update, however, simply shows the proximity of its local Offers.
To access the local Offers, a user must first click on the icon to the upper left, which provides access to Navigation, Latitude, and Places, among others. Clicking the Offers button asks the user to opt in to new Offers being placed on the map. That behavior didn't manifest itself when I used it, however; only when I had zoomed out far enough (and over a metropolitan areas served by Offers, such as San Francisco) and then selected Offers did Maps offer to provide me a list of nearby Offers. Clicking the upper right-hand button then put those offers icons on the map.
In 2011, Google took Google Maps indoors, with businesses like Ikea and local airports providing their layout information. Android phones could then use a combination of GPS and Wi-Fi information to triangulate their position. Now, Google has added actual directions for navigating to a restaurant inside a shopping mall, or, presumably, the men's section at a local Macy's.
And, for those that want more information about what that restaurant may look like, Google Business Photos will provide 360-degree views.
