Google quietly added a new video feature to Google Maps
Your destination will now come to life when you search on Google Maps.
Google has added a new video feature to accompany its mapping service, the company announced. Now, when you search a destination, you'll be able to find video footage of the location in the section of the map where you usually see user-submitted photos.
Right now, only Local Guides — designated users who contribute photos, reviews, and information about restaurants, parks, museums, and other mappable spots — on Android devices will be able to upload video footage to a location. But it looks like uploading videos will soon be an option for others, like business owners wanting to show off their store front or products, reports TechCrunch.
While the tool was quietly rolled out in late August, it wasn't until this week that the video feature was announced more widely.
This weekend I'm heading to Bodega Bay, up the Northern California coast. Starting soon videos of the beach, or a fish market, or the church where The Birds was filmed, could pop up on the left-hand side of the page, near where the still photos are already uploaded to the map.
Looks like mapping just got way more watchable.
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
