Google Maps for iOS will now show you your flight, hotel and restaurant reservations
Google has bumped Google Maps for iOS up to version 2.5.0 and with it brought some neat new additions for folks in selected locations. Maps will now pull information from your Gmail account and show you your flight …
Context & Ripple Effects
Google Maps for iOS spent 2013 broadening from basic mapping into a more capable travel and local tool, adding contacts and local-search categories in March and gaining iPad, indoor-map and navigation support in July. By October, it had also begun connecting trips and upcoming events to the app.
The 2.5.0 update extends that trajectory by using Gmail reservation data for selected locations. It matters because Google Maps is becoming an interface for information already held elsewhere in Google’s services, rather than a standalone navigation app.
First-order effects
- Google Maps for iOS users in supported locations can view flight, hotel and restaurant reservations from Gmail alongside mapping information.
- Google ties the utility of Google Maps more directly to Gmail, making confirmed travel and dining messages actionable inside the mapping app.
Second-order effects
- Gmail becomes more valuable to Google Maps users who keep reservation confirmations in the inbox, strengthening the connection between Google’s communication and location products.
- Google Maps’ travel experience shifts toward itinerary management as well as directions, raising the importance of integrated personal data over map features alone.
Third-order effects
- If Google keeps extending this model, mobile maps will increasingly compete as cross-service assistants built on a user’s inbox, calendar and location context rather than as navigation products in isolation.
The trend: Google is turning Maps into a context-aware travel interface by connecting location tools with reservation data held in Gmail.