Google Maps has just benefited from a hefty update which provides the much loved service with a number of interesting tweaks. The tiny Street View icon dubbed Pegman which had vanished some time ago, has made a comeback with this upgrade, whereas Google’s plans with its newly acquired social navigation utility, Waze can finally be seen taking better shape.
Pegman can now be spotted at the lower right corner of the screen, and clicking on him will highlight all the Street View imagery on the concerned map in blue color. Clicking on each of them will take you right into the street-level view of those places.
Live incident reports which are made possible by the massive Waze community have finally made their way onto the desktop version of Google Maps, after making their presence felt on its mobile versions. Factors such as traffic congestion along your route, real time reports of accidents will all be provided to you once you choose your route.
Another new feature comes in the form of Earth Tours which lends you a 3D imagery of buildings and terrain a la Google Earth. Available only with WebGL-enabled browsers, it can be accessed at particular locations where the Earth Tour icon appears.
Although these new additions have not made their way to the desktop version of Google Maps in a full-fledged manner, they are indeed available for those who had opted for a preview. For all others, they should start rolling out soon, as revealed by the search giant through a blog post.