Google Maps

Brainstorming for new feature ideas

6 min readMay 8, 2019

The product

Google maps is a mapping service developed by google and is used by multiple applications within and outside the google ecosystem.

Typical customers of google maps are business who use maps API like real estate portals, travel portals etc. and end users who user the google maps application through different devices. End users also experience the maps interface through different google search experiences like the local business searches, hotel searches, flight searches.

For this discussion, we’ll focus on the user facing mobile application that is available in most smartphones.

At the core the google maps app help users in deciding where to go(by exploring a locality, searching for local businesses and addresses) and how to reach there (through turn by turn navigation).

Goal

Maps generates revenue directly for google through sale of maps API, ads from businesses and indirectly through the data that user shares through her trips. Maps is a very engaging app for navigation and the recent changes with the ‘explore tab’, we see Google trying to get the user use the app for getting inspired to travel and explore the locality through ML driven features.

This ties well with Google’s strategy for navigating an AI-first world with smart features that assist users in every aspect of their life. In return, users spend more time with google apps and help google monetize through relevant ads

For this discussion will focus on improving the user experience and value delivered to the end users and society. This will result in increase in user engagement in many cases. We are not actively focus on user growth, or monetization.

User persona

Focusing on a very generic persona for this analysis - a 9-to-5 office worker who drives to work on week days and travels for shopping and leisure activities on weekends.

Mind map of current list of scenarios and possible extensions

Diving deep into few scenarios

Work commute: Usually follows a regular pattern. The typical user journey is given below(literally in this case)

When to start to work: Traffic conditions are dynamic in many cities. If a traffic disruption happens, a small change in the start time can make the commute difficult. Google maps can use the daily commute pattern, meeting timings from google calendar and traffic predictions to suggest an appropriate time to start to work and start to home for each day. The current solution addresses this to an extent but can be improved with proactive notifications from maps through google assistant by taking cues from all the above sources.

Travelling professionals: The above solution becomes even more impactful for professionals who have to travel continuously for their work.(a different persona than the one we started with)The current solution is suboptimal for their use case. If google maps is able to sync their meeting schedules from Google or Outlook calendar, then google assistant can help them in deciding ‘when to start’ and also letting their colleagues know if they will be delayed on traffic.

2. Outing with friends: The typical user journey

There are some steps in this journey where Google maps is providing very good value

Many of the remaining steps happens through a social network(Facebook) or a chat application(Whatsapp). This remains a gap in user experience and can be bettered by offering the end to end experience in Google Maps, with the help of Hangout and Google Pay.

Discover friends nearby: For a public even like a rock concert, a conference or a big carnival, the user journey is a bit different

Google can offer the ticket booking experience easily and it is doing it already through partnerships. Looking for friends who are already there in the event currently happens through ‘check-ins’ or broadcasts through social networks. For opted in customers Google maps can broadcast ‘checked-in’ notification and live location to a close group of friends so that they can meet up.

Other scenarios

Detailing few other scenarios to identify gaps and possible solutions:

Emergency trips: In many developing countries vehicular traffic is haphazard and ambulances take a lot of time to navigate traffic and reach hospitals. Google maps can alert all drivers navigating using google maps and traffic regulating cops that an ambulance is on the way.
Inside buildings: GPS does not work accurately inside buildings and navigating through huge shopping malls or commercial complexes is still a challenge. Google maps can use the images captured using smartphone along with wifi-localization, to identify the current location and give step by step navigation inside buildings.
Multi-location shopping trip: This is a scenario where the user has a shopping list and want to drive and purchase these products. Google maps can optimize the drive based on product price, quality and preference of the user and traffic conditions.
Long distance car drive: Google maps can suggest safety rules like driving within speed limit and stopping for coffee breaks for preventing fatigue.
Long distance travel using public transport: Provide options with trains, buses and flights and its combinations with price comparison and link to booking provider.

Other suggestions that can help governments and urban planning dept.

Traffic regulation: Once a large percentage of drivers in a location navigate using google maps, it can redistribute traffic to prevent choking of roads.
Urban planning: Traffic data and growth patterns can give inputs for urban planning for a city to ease future traffic