Google’s biggest Maps update in a decade puts Gemini in the passenger seat

Ask Maps lets users query the world in natural language. Immersive Navigation rebuilds directions in 3D. Together, they mark the most significant overhaul of Google Maps since Street View.

The question Google is now asking its users to ask Maps is: “My phone is dying, where can I charge it without a long wait for coffee?” That a navigation app can handle that query, and actually answer it well, marks a meaningful shift in what digital cartography can do.

Google announced Ask Maps, a conversational AI feature powered by Gemini, alongside a redesigned Immersive Navigation experience that brings photorealistic 3D rendering to turn-by-turn directions. The combination represents what Google is calling its most significant Maps update in over a decade, though it is careful not to say so directly.

Ask Maps works by allowing users to pose complex, contextual queries rather than searching for a specific place or category. “Is ...