Google Maps has been redesigned to offer a new 3D interface and an AI-powered conversational search experience with the new update. The latter, called Ask Maps, is powered by Google’s Gemini models to make discovering places and navigating routes more intuitive by turning Maps into a conversational assistant rather than just a navigational tool. Moreover, the 3D interface, marketed as Immersive Navigation, reflects real-world surroundings, including buildings, terrain, and overpasses.
Table of Contents
A redesigned navigation experience
The Maps driving experience is also evolving with Immersive Navigation, featuring clearer visuals and intuitive guidance. You’ll be able to see the buildings, overpasses and terrain around you in a vivid 3D view, made possible with help from Gemini models.
— Google (@Google) March 12, 2026
You’ll also be able… pic.twitter.com/FtAK2BEIMC
Google describes this new way of navigation as the most significant transformation of the Maps driving experience in more than ten years. The Immersive Navigation highlights road details such as lanes, crosswalks, traffic lights, and stop signs, to help drivers navigate complex turns or merges more confidently.
The feature is currently limited to the US, with broader availability for iOS and Android devices, CarPlay, Android Auto, and more expected to follow later. Based on the visuals Google has shared, the redesigned navigation interface appears significantly more immersive than the existing 2D, static layout.
This spatial view is generated using Google’s Gemini models, which analyse fresh imagery from Street View and aerial photography to create a detailed understanding of the road environment.
Turn maps search into a conversation
Google also adds the ‘Ask Maps’ feature to its maps, which uses the AI assistant Gemini to answer your complex, real-world questions directly inside the app. The feature has started rolling out to the US and India on Android and iOS, with desktop to follow soon. It wasn’t available on my device at the time of writing the article.
Google claims that with this new feature, users won’t have to search through multiple listings and reviews. Instead, they can now ask questions like where they can charge their phone without waiting in line at a coffee shop, or whether there’s a public tennis court with lights nearby for an evening game on Google Maps, which will then respond conversationally and surface relevant places on a customised map.
This is powered by Google Maps’ ability to constantly update its dataset with more than 300 million places, alongside reviews and insights from its community of over 500 million contributors. The system is also designed to be personalised, meaning if you’ve previously searched for or saved certain types of places, such as vegetarian restaurants, Ask Maps can prioritise those when suggesting meeting spots or recommendations.
Once a place is selected, users can quickly take action within Maps, such as booking restaurant reservations, saving locations to lists, sharing them with friends, or starting navigation.
Other new add-ons
Apart from these two major changes, Google Maps also refines how directions are presented. Users will be able to zoom out to see more of the road ahead and anticipate upcoming turns with transparent buildings more easily. Voice guidance is also getting an upgrade, with directions phrased more like natural instructions from a passenger.
Drivers will also see clearer explanations of alternate routes, for example, a slightly longer route that avoids traffic or a faster one that includes toll roads. With this move, Google Maps could widen its lead over rivals, leaving platforms like Apple Maps and other navigation services with some catching up to do.
