Google Maps can now navigate inside tunnels

Possibly the worst a part of going by way of a tunnel once you’re counting on instructions by way of GPS is the chaos as you put together to exit the tunnel. Generally GPS will keep in mind you’re on a street touring by way of a tunnel and keep the instructions it was supplying you with once you went in, and typically it is going to go totally silly and remind you to proceed to the route because it reveals your automobile fortunately driving by way of a river, a trainyard, or a sequence of residential properties.

However Google Maps is about to get higher at displaying instructions inside tunnels. A brand new function noticed by SmartDroid permits the Android model of the app to make use of Bluetooth beacons to trace your location in areas the place GPS indicators sometimes can’t attain.

These beacons transmit Bluetooth indicators that give location knowledge to your cellphone, in accordance with the Google-owned Waze, which already helps the function. The app then makes use of this data together with the machine’s cell connectivity to “present real-time visitors knowledge as it will with a typical GPS connection.”

The one caveat is that the function will solely work if the tunnel you’re touring by way of has Bluetooth beacons put in. Waze already has partnerships in a number of cities throughout the globe, together with New York Metropolis, Chicago, Boston, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Brussels, and others, the place beacons are put in. It’s not clear whether or not Google Maps will use the identical beacons since each apps are owned by Google, however we’ve reached out to the corporate for extra data.

To allow the function on Google Maps, choose your profile from the top-right nook of the app, after which select Settings > Navigation Settings. Then, scroll right down to the underside of the web page, toggle on Bluetooth tunnel beacons, and choose Enable when Google Maps asks for permission to allow it.

As identified by 9to5Google, some customers reported first seeing the function in October 2023, however now it seems to be broadly rolling out. We nonetheless don’t know if or when it is going to come to Google Maps on iOS, so should you’re an iPhone person, you’ll simply need to proceed utilizing Waze to get instructions inside tunnels.