Summary
- Google Maps is introducing a new AI-powered ‘screenshot list’ feature that allows users to save places of interest for travel planning directly from their screenshots.
- This feature, powered by Gemini, will automatically identify locations in users’ screenshots and offer the option to add them to a saved list within Google Maps.
- The feature is now rolling out to English iOS users in the US with support for Android “coming soon,”
AI is the name of the game, and whether you like it or not, companies will not stop integrating AI tools into some of your favorite apps. Resistance, here, is futile, especially since some of the recent AI features we’ve seen are a lot more than hyped-up buzzwords — they have actual utility.
Google’s Gemini, for example, can help users code, find and summarize documents in Workspace apps like Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Docs, all while being integrated with some of our most used apps, like WhatsApp, Google Home, YouTube, Spotify, and more.
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The AI tool recently made its way over to Google Maps with the ability to decipher on-screen context, allowing users to ‘Ask about‘ places like restaurants, shops, and general locations. Now, the tech giant is taking the Gemini integration one step further, leveraging Pixel Screenshots-like tech to analyze screenshots for travel planning right within Google Maps.
Announced by Google in a new blog post today, the new ‘screenshot list’ feature has begun rolling out today. The feature is currently limited to English users in the US that use an iOS device. Android support is “coming soon.”
Google Maps is keeping tabs
The tech giant explains that travel inspiration often comes from social media, news articles, and even travel blogs. Users normally take screenshots of content on said platforms to add to their travel list, but these screenshots, more often than not, are lost in the shuffle. With Google Maps’ new feature, the navigation app will reportedly keep track of these screenshots, but of course, only if you choose to enable the feature.
“If you choose to turn on the new ‘screenshot’ list, Gemini capabilities in Maps automatically identify places mentioned in your screenshots so you can review and save the ones you want to a helpful list,” wrote Google. Once saved, these places will show up with a ‘camera with flash’ icon (📸) at their designated coordinates within your Google Maps view. The privacy aspect of the new feature isn’t entirely clear right now. Specifically, it is unclear if Google/Gemini gets to analyze all screenshots on your device to see if it can fetch location/travel-based details from it, or if it relies on specific markers.
Elsewhere, within the same blog post, Google also revealed that AI Overviews will soon be able to offer trip ideas for “distinct regions or entire countries,” alongside a new option to track prices (and receive email alerts for price drops) for hotels on google.com/hotels.
