Google’s next frontier in digital mapping will span the world’s shopping malls and airports.
In an upgrade released Tuesday, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) unveiled a feature that will include indoor directions within stores, malls, airports and transit centers in the U.S. and Japan.
“When you’re inside an airport, shopping mall or retail store, a common way to figure out where you are is to look for a freestanding map directory or ask an employee for help. Starting today, with the release of Google Maps 6.0 for Android, that directory is brought to the palm of your hands, helping you determine where you are, what floor you’re on, and where to go indoors,” wrote Brian McClendon, vice president of engineering for Google Earth and Maps in a blog.
“Detailed floor plans automatically appear when you’re viewing the map and zoomed in on a building where indoor map data is available. The familiar “blue dot” icon indicates your location within several meters, and when you move up or down a level in a building with multiple floors, the interface will automatically update to display which floor you’re on. All this is achieved by using an approach similar to that of ‘My Location’ for outdoor spaces, but fine tuned for indoors.”
The indoor directions include two retailers known for their labyrinth stores – Home Depot and Ikea. Macy’s and Bloomingdales also have shared the floor plans of a few of their biggest stores. The Mall of America in Minnesota and 16 U.S. airports also are included in Google’s initial index of indoor directions.
For now, Google’s indoor maps can only be viewed on smartphones and tablet computers that run on the company’s Android software. That’s still a potentially huge audience because more than 550,000 Android-powered devices are activated each day.
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