Generative AI has pervaded nearlyevery aspect of Google’s business, right from Workspace tools to other core pillars of the business like Search and standalone projects like the Gemini chatbot. Although a lot of details still need to be ironed out,Google seems intenton including its Search Generative Experience (SGE) in Search results by default. To ensure users get the most out of this change, this summer, the company is maintaining the steady cadence of improvements with new capabilities coming to SGE and a few handy tweaks to Google Maps.
What is Google Search Labs?
Experiment with Google’s upcoming Search features
If you haven’t heard,SGE started lifeas a Google Search Labs experiment in May 2023, and has since become available to billions of users around the world as an opt-in enhancement for the conventional search results page. The AI-generated summary usually collates information from the top links and summarizes it in a digestible format that’s a few paragraphs long. Now, Google is blurring the lines between the capabilities of theGemini chatbotand SGE, introducing full-fledged itinerary planning support for the latter.
In its announcement, the company says anyone with access to the Search Generative Experience in the US in English can now type in a search query like “plan me a 5-day trip to Los Angeles that’s all about music culture.” The results should include a day-wise list of the places to visit, suitable restaurants, and a brief overview of your options for hotels and flights.
Google says it will pull reviews and photos from Business Profiles of the area you plan to visit along with information from other websites. you may use the quick summary to compare destinations and plan your trip efficiently. If you’re traveling with someone else, SGE also has shortcuts to export the suggestions to Google Docs, Gmail, and Maps, enabling easier sharing or a way to keep the results for later reference.
Lists could make Google Maps more useful
Speaking of Maps, Google also announced a few features to simplify summertime travel in the app. Say, you’re planning that trip to LA, you can just look up the city in Maps and swipe up. The app should display a few lists of must-visit attractions and stores. Google has special restaurant lists including a Trending list updated every week, a Top list for the all-time favorite restaurants, and a Gems list for the unheard-of secret places which you might otherwise miss. Additionally, you will find lists from popular sources like Lonely Planet, The Infatuation, OpenTable, and The New York Times.
Presently, the company is rolling out this feature only for users in the US and Canada, with curated lists available for a little over 40 cities. If it takes off, we hope to see it expand to other regions as well, because integrating advice from Google’s Local Guides community and the abundance of online listicles for popular destinations should be a piece of cake for the company.
Google is also giving Maps users convenient list customization tools when you hit theNewlist option in theSavedtab. Options include sorting by date added, manual sorting to create a ranked list, and support for linking to content from social media. AI also plays a role here, with photos and reviews summarizing important information about a place you’re looking up.
