Last month, Google Maps’ Street View functionality started displaying photos of retail spaces’ interiors; now Google Maps itself is headed indoors, too, with a proposed Google Maps Floor Plans feature. This would mean Google maps of airports, shopping malls, and other buildings that you might somehow be able to get lost in.
At the moment the feature is only available on the Google Maps Android app, but it shouldn’t take a whole lot of time before it appears on other mobile and desktop interfaces.
What is especially cool is the fact that Google Maps Floor Plans can determine which floor of a building you’re on, and generate directions accordingly – although this is still in beta, and might not be entirely reliable. Still, the maps ought to be accurate – they’re based on floor plans uploaded by the building’s owners who have actively subscribed to the Google Maps Floor Plans project.
It’s not yet clear how large a building has to be to justify being given its own Google Maps Floor Plan; depressing labyrinth malls and airports are likely candidates, my crappy one-roomed apartment somewhat less so.
[Source: Google Blog]
