Google launched the Gemini-powered Ask Maps function in Google Maps back in March, and today it’s receiving a massive set of improvements. Chief among these is the ability to order food directly from the app. You can just tell Ask Maps what you want to eat, and it will find open restaurants along your route that serve what you’re craving.
Once you select a restaurant, Ask Maps can add the dish you want directly to your cart so you can then review and complete your order. This is rolling out “with partners like Square and Toast, with Uber Eats coming soon”, according to the company’s blog post on the matter.
Ask Maps also lets you discover information about local hotels and events. It can compare real-time prices and check availability, with links for booking hotels or buying tickets for events.
You can securely connect Ask Maps to Gmail through Personal Intelligence, and if you do, then Ask Maps will know about your upcoming flights or dinner reservations from your emails. This means it can give you things like nearby recommendations based on your hotel reservations. Connecting to Gmail is off by default. If you have history turned on, Ask Maps will remember past conversations with you, allowing you to pick up where you left off.
Ask Maps now supports live updates for transit, with a new transit widget keeping you informed about up-to-the-minute delays for your bus, train, subway, or ferry rides.
You can even suggest Maps edits in a conversational form with Ask Maps, or upload a photo of a storefront sign to edit the business’ hours of operation, for example. You can also give it tips like “more parking is available behind the building”, and Maps will surface this information to others.
The live transit widget, personalized responses, and memory of past conversations are rolling out now everywhere Ask Maps is available. Food ordering, discovering hotels and events, and conversational contributions are rolling out now in the US only, “with more countries to come over time”.