The Silicon Review ^Asia

Google recently released the latest update for its Google Maps where it has introduced a feature of personalized recommendations for places and improved the mapping tool. Although they haven’t changed the core interface, the app now includes certain new features that will help you find the best restaurants in town.

The Senior Product Manager on the Google Maps team, Sophia Lin, was reported saying that, “About a year ago, when we started to talk to users, one of the things we asked them was: how can we really help you? What else do you want Google Maps to do? And one of the overwhelming answers that we got back was just really a lot of requests around helping users explore an area, help me decide where to go”.

The updated version of the app includes two new tabs named ‘Explore’ and ‘For You’. While the Explore tab helps you learn more about what is happening in your city, town or neighborhood, the ‘For You’ app provides a newsfeed with various restaurant suggestions, list of upcoming venues, and updates about existing and new food joints. The Explore tab also includes a curated list of places for lunch or dinner that you might like to visit depending on your reviews. Google usually tracks these places based on your previous choices and ratings and provides a list of suggestions for the same while also highlighting local events taking place in your vicinity.

Apart from this, they have also introduced a feature of ‘Your Match’ scores where you can allot numeric ratings to places that you have visited. While general algorithms help calculate the aggregate ratings, Google Maps takes into account personal tastes of the individuals and provides recommendations accordingly.