Google Maps is getting a whole new experience called ‘Immersive View’ to deliver an enhanced digital model of buildings and roads around the world. Google announced the new feature at its I/O 2022 consumer keynote on Wednesday, saying the new mode uses advances in computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI) to provide users with an enriched viewing experience . Google also announced the second beta of its upcoming operating system, Android 13. The company also announced upcoming updates to Google Workspaces, including automatic transcription, Portrait Light, and Portrait Restore on Google Meet. Apart from this, there were announcements related to Google Assistant, YouTube, skin tone representation, and others which you will find in detail here.
google maps update
With ‘Immersive View’, Google Maps Help provide a rich view of a neighborhood, landmark, restaurant, or popular destination you’re looking for. It Fuses Billions Together Street View and AI to provide rich, digital models of aerial images as well as advances in computer vision and virtual maps, the company said.
“Whether you’re traveling somewhere new or exploring hidden local gems, Immersive View will help you make the most informed decision before you go,” Google said,
In addition to the immersive experience, the new view includes a time slider that users can also use to see what the area looks like at different times of day and in different weather conditions. Users can also go to street level to view nearby restaurants and view information such as live engagement and nearby traffic.
‘Immersive View’ uses Google Cloud to offer users a digital view. So, it is device agnostic and can work with any phone and device, Google said. The experience has initially rolled out in Los Angeles, London, New York, San Francisco and Tokyo.
Google Maps is expanding eco-friendly routing to more places, including Europe. Google claimed that it was launched in the US and Canada in recent times and has been used by people to travel 86 billion miles, saving an estimated half a million metric tons of carbon emissions.
In addition, Google is making its Live View available to developers through the new ARCore Geospatial API. It brings augmented reality (AR) to display arrows and directions on top of the real world to help users navigate indoor areas such as airports, malls and train stations.
Android 13 Beta 2 Release
In other announcements, Google I/O 2022 Consumer Keynote announces release of Android 13 beta 2. will update Take an Inventory of Improvements and Enhancements on the first beta release that started Last month for select Pixel devices. Google also announced features including an integrated security and privacy settings page, new media controls featuring album artwork, and a new Photo Picture that allows users to select the exact photos and videos they want to access. want to give. Android 13 will also include optimizations for tablets, including better multitasking capabilities and an updated taskbar, including the ability to convert a single tablet view to a split screen.
Android 13 beta 2 has been released
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google meet update
google meet Google is getting Portrait Restore that uses AI to help improve video quality and even if the user is sitting in a dimly lit room and using an old webcam or has poor Wi-Fi connectivity. Google said that this feature can help to automatically enhance the video.
In addition to the Portrait Restore feature, Google Meet is getting Portrait Light, which is claimed to use machine learning to simulate studio-quality lighting in the video feed. Users can also adjust the lighting position and brightness.
Google Meet is also getting de-reverbation which uses machine learning to help the Echo filter in places with hard surfaces. company claims This feature helps you sound “like you’re in a mic-ed up conference room… even if you’re in your basement.”
Additionally, Google Meet is getting live sharing to sync the content being shared across virtual calls and allow participants to control the media. Developers can also use the Live Sharing API to integrate Meet into their apps.
google is too Bring in Automated transcriptions later this year and meeting summary next year to elevate conversations on Google Meet.
google workspace update
google workspace Google is getting automated transcriptions of Meet to help users transcribe conversations directly into their documents. Google is also expanding the auto-summary to Spaces to provide a digest of longer conversations. Auto-summaries were introduced google docs earlier this year.
Google Workspace is getting new updates soon
photo credit: google
In addition, Google is adding security features that were part of Gmail to Google Slides, Docs, and Sheets. The company claimed that these protections will help prevent users from opening phishing links and documents containing malware by using automatic alerts.
google assistant update
I/O 2022 Consumer Keynote, Google announced Look and Talk is rolling out in the US on the Nest Hub Max to help people access google assistant “Ok Google” or “Hey Google” without saying the hotword. Users would just need to look at the screen and then ask them what they want. The feature uses Face Match and Voice Match features based on machine learning and AI algorithms to quickly identify users and enable voice interactions. Google said that this feature will be available as an opt-in offering.
Once enabled, you can use Look and Talk to interact with the Google Assistant by simply looking at your screen nest hub max,
“Video from these interactions is processed entirely on the device, so it is not shared with Google or anyone else,” the company said.
Google also noted that the feature works for people with a wide variety of skin tones and diverse backgrounds.
In addition to the Look and Talk feature, Google is expanding the quick phrases in the Nest Hub Max to let users skip saying “Hey Google” for their most common daily tasks. This means you’ll be able to turn on the lights in your room by saying “Turn on the living room lights” without having to say the hotword first.
Google Assistant is also getting new speech and language models that can help it understand the nuances of human speech — such as when someone is pausing but not ending speaking, the company said.
youtube update
Google announces it’s rolling out auto-translated captions at I/O Keynote youtube For mobile users to help users view video captions in 16 languages. Google is also bringing auto-translated captions to all Ukrainian YouTube content next month.
skin tone update
Google is releasing a new skin tone scale called the Monk Skin Tone (MST) Scale, based on research by Harvard professor and sociologist Dr. Alice Monk. This will help bring the spectrum of skin tones more inclusive, the company said. said,
The new 10-shade skin tone scale will be integrated into various Google products in the coming months. Google is also releasing the scale openly to allow others in the tech industry to incorporate a wider range of skin tones into their experiences.
One of Google’s flagship products that will start using the MST scale will be Google Search. It will start showing an option to help users further refine the results based on skin tone. Manufacturers, brands and publishers will be able to use an inclusive schema to label their content with attributes such as skin tone, hair color and hair texture.
Google Photos will also use the MST scale so that users can enhance their photos using a new set of Real Tone filters. These filters will become available on Google Photos on Android, iOS and the web in the coming weeks.