Google will let you report more types of road incidents on Maps

What you need to know

  • iPhone owners will finally be able to alert others about traffic incidents via Google Maps, similar to how things work on Waze.
  • The feature has been available on Android for quite some time now, and the company's finally porting it over to the Appleverse.
  • Both platforms will also be able to report an expanded array of driving incidents, including constructions, lane closures, and more.

Google's pushing a new update to Maps that will close the feature gap between the iOS and Android versions of the app. The update relates to reporting driving incidents and will allow iPhone users to finally communicate driving events like speed traps and crashes from within the application.

The function was already available to Android users. While iPhone users could see information about traffic, crashes, and so on, they were previously only passive consumers of the information and could not actively alert other users to incidents they might have witnessed themselves. That's now changed.

Alongside this, users of both platforms will now have the ability to report four more types of events on the road: "construction, lane closures, disabled vehicles, and objects on the road (like debris)."

The changes will begin propagating to users of both platforms across the world sometime this week. The company had also added AR directions in Maps for iOS and Android users earlier in the year.

Google Maps finally gets a Street View layer on Android

Have you listened to this week's Android Central Podcast?

Android Central

Every week, the Android Central Podcast brings you the latest tech news, analysis and hot takes, with familiar co-hosts and special guests.

  • Subscribe in Pocket Casts: Audio
  • Subscribe in Spotify: Audio
  • Subscribe in iTunes: Audio
Muhammad Jarir Kanji