A new housing estate goes up on the edge of town. A farm becomes a warehouse park. A patch of veld becomes a shopping centre. For businesses that plan around where people live and work, these changes matter. But finding them has usually meant flicking between old satellite images and scanning large areas by eye. Google has introduced Detect Change, an experimental tool in Google Earth on the web. It compares two years and highlights where the ground has changed, so teams can

Terrain shapes almost every early decision on a site. It determines where water runs, how much a foundation costs, how steep an access road will be, and how much earth must be moved before construction begins. No serious project skips a proper land survey. But sending a field team to a site nobody has studied yet wastes budget on questions that could have been answered at a desk. Google has added four terrain analysis tools to Google Earth on the web: elevation contours, slo

Every delivery business knows the feeling. The parcel is ready and loaded, the route is planned, and the driver still delivers it at the wrong gate. DHL Express, which conducts around 1.5 million shipments a day across 220 countries, faced this problem on a global scale. As the e-commerce industry grew, half of those shipments began being delivered to homes rather than businesses. In a recent post on the Google Maps Platform blog, DHL Express expanded on how it rebuilt its d

Until now, a Google Cloud budget could warn you about overspending, but it couldn't stop it. Google's new Spend Caps change that. Here's how they work and what they mean for your business. Google Cloud Spend Caps Explained Spend Caps are a new feature in Google Cloud Budgets, currently in Public Preview.It works by allowing you to set a monthly limit for a single service in a single project. When spending reaches 100% of that limit, Google Cloud pauses new usage for that serv

Google Cloud Results ● Eliminated navigation blind spots with real-time driver tracking and live maps. ● Drastically improved ETAs for accurate, predictable pickup times. ● Optimised dispatch and routing precision through seamless Google Maps Platform Mobility integration. WANATU helps South Africans travel confidently, comfortably, and securely through an e-hailing platform built on local support and community trust, powered by Google Maps Platform Mobility.

Professional drivers worldwide deal with heavy traffic, unexpected detours, and tight deadlines every day. Through UX research of enterprise fleets across regions, many developers need flexible design systems rather than rigid layouts to reflect their brand and improve the driver experience. Google Maps Platform has introduced a solution: the Layout Customisation Framework for the Android Navigation SDK. This new framework gives software teams the creative freedom to build c

Generative AI chatbots are changing how consumers plan travel and daily errands. When users ask an AI tool for trip advice, they expect real-world travel times, not wild guesses. However, standard AI models often generate incorrect travel estimates. They lack real-time map data, which can lead to missed appointments and frustrated customers. Google Maps Platform solved this problem by adding routing features to Grounding with Google Maps. This update allows AI agents to pull

When a customer searches for fibre coverage on your site and the page keeps spinning, you lose sales. The tricky part is figuring out why it’s slow. Is the issue on your side, or is a fibre network operator (FNO) having system trouble? Without a clear overview of your fibre feasibility API status, your technical team wastes hours digging through code. To fix this, we launched our new API Service Health Status Page. In this article, we share how it works and how it keeps your

To celebrate the release of Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man™: Brand New Day, Sony collaborated with Samsung and Google Maps to bring the cinematic world directly to fans worldwide. Inspired by an in-world app created by Ned Leeds in the film, Sony turned that screen concept into a real-world digital tracking experience with SpideyTracker.com. The Spidey Tracker website features Spider-Man sightings, campaign events, Easter eggs, fan-generated content, and exclusive film footage. U

Any business operating in physical locations or relying on dynamic real-world conditions knows that understanding site potential is key to identifying new revenue opportunities. Google Maps Platform’s latest features for evaluating building locations, renewable energy capacity, and even air quality allow you to convert raw geospatial data into actionable insights. This gives your business the information it needs to forecast market trends and build long-term, sustainable gr

Learn how combining Google Maps and Gemini AI can help solve location challenges, improve address accuracy, and optimise field operations for businesses.

In the competitive world of ride-hailing, regional players often face off against national aggregators with massive budgets. For Red Taxi, a service that has operated for 13 years in Tamil Nadu, India, the secret to success comes down to an unwavering commitment to service quality. From its humble beginnings with just 30 cabs in Coimbatore, Red Taxi has grown into a fleet of 15,000 vehicles serving 50,000 rides a day across 17 cities. Here is how Red Taxi partnered with the G

Historically, extracting automated insights from street-level imagery, such as auditing infrastructure integrity, reading localised parking signs, or detecting specific hardware attachments, required training highly specialised and bespoke computer vision models. Today, the distance between raw, unstructured street-level imagery and highly structured spatial intelligence is closing rapidly. By combining the vast coverage of Google Maps Platform data, like Street View Insights

As populations shift and public transit options fluctuate, a growing challenge is emerging in rural and suburban areas known as transportation deserts. In Japan, a rapidly ageing society and declining birthrate have brought this crisis into sharp focus. With traditional bus routes being reduced and elderly residents surrendering their driver's licenses, the need for accessible, reliable everyday transport has become an urgent priority. Enter Community Mobility Inc., a joint v

Read how Google Earth's AI data layers are changing the game for South African logistics teams.

Google DeepMind is expanding Project Genie, an experimental AI prototype capable of generating interactive virtual environments. With its latest update, Genie can now connect its generative world-building capabilities with real-world imagery from Google Street View. This means users can create imaginative, explorable worlds anchored in real places. For businesses, this update points to an important shift. AI is moving beyond text and images into interactive, location-aware en

Travel planning can involve a lot of moving parts. Flights, hotels, restaurants, local shops, language barriers, routes and airport updates all need to come together at the right time. Google’s latest travel tools are designed to make that easier. By combining Search, Maps, AI, Translate and Wallet, Google helps travellers plan trips, find better deals and explore new places with more confidence. For businesses, these updates also show the value of smart digital experiences.

Twenty years ago this June, a modest gathering of 100 geodevelopers on Google's campus laid the groundwork for what is now Google I/O. Today, the developer conversation has evolved from basic digital mapping to a complete convergence of artificial intelligence and physical reality. By bridging the gap between large language models and the physical world, Google is providing developers with tools to anchor AI responses in verified facts. This shift marks a major milestone for

For decades, digital maps were just passive tools used to find a blue dot or plot a route. But after the Google Maps Community Day in NYC, it is clear that era is over.

Opening a new business location is a major commitment, yet many people still rely on old-school research methods to guide their decisions. To beat your competitors to prime real estate, you need a modern approach. Enter Places Insights in BigQuery. With this powerful tool, your team can choose winning business locations that drive sales and accelerate growth. Let’s take a look at how it works. Why Your Business Should Ditch the Manual Research If you’re using static maps