Google has rolled out a new version of Google Maps for Android which has a new menu toolbar, a more detailed Places homepage, and the ability to show indoor maps for certain locations.

For now Google Maps 6.0 for Android offers indoor maps for a small number of airports, shopping malls, and other locations. The indoor maps feature is still in beta, but it can certainly come in handy if you’re trying to find the nearest restroom or fast food joint while rushing to catch a connecting flight.

Indoor maps are available for a handful of locations in the US and Japan as well as some retail stores including Home Depot, Ikea, and Macy’s.

The indoor maps also include a floor selector so you can check out the second or third floor of large malls or airports.

The new version of Google Maps has a toolbar located in the upper-left corner. Tap it to bring up a menu that lets you quickly switch to the Places screen, Navigation, or other popular areas.

Google also redesigned the Places screen so that not only do you see icons for restaurants, bars, cafes, and other popular items, but also previews of items that are nearby as well as prompts to check-in if Google Maps detects that you’re currently at a specific location.

Google Maps 6.0 for Android is available as a free download from the Android Market.

via Google Lat Long Blog

Google has rolled out an updated version of Google Maps for Android with three key new features. The first is support for voice and ringtone notifications in Transit Navigation. This allows you to receive an audible alert when it’s time to transfer or when you’ve reached your destination.

The company also says it’s adding support for Transit Navigation to tablets, allowing you to get bus, subway, and other public transit directions on Honeycomb tablets — although this doesn’t seem to be working on the Samsung Galaxy Tab I tried it with today.

Finally, Google is returning the “Bubble Buttons” option which had been removed in earlier builds. You can open up the “Labs” area in the settings menu and enable this option. Then when you tap on a place on the map you’ll see buttons that allow you to place a phone call or get navigation directions to that place right away, without opening the Google Places page first.

You can download the latest version of Google Maps for Android from the Android Market.

Google just made it a little bit easier to get around in London without a car. The company has added public transportation directions for London to all of its Google Maps products.

That means if you’re using Google Maps for Android, iOS, or BlackBerry or Google Maps in a web browser you can get step by step directions for getting from one place to another by bus, tube, or foot.

Android users can also fire up the Google Maps app to use the recently launched transit navigation beta feature which will let you know when it’s time to exit the vehicle or catch a transfer.

All told, Google offers transit directions for 447 cities including a number of locations in the US, Canada, and Europe

Google has added a few new features to the Google Maps application for Android and slapped a new version number on the app. You can download Google Maps 5.8 for Android for free from the Android Market.

Most of the changes are related to the Places and Latitude features, which allow you to view detailed information about businesses and other real-world locations on your map or share your location with other users.

Users can now upload photographs of a place directly from their phones. This feature makes a lot of sense, since Google already featured user-uploaded photos for restaurants and other spots. Now you can snap a photo and upload it while you’re actually on-site.

Photos will show up in your Picasa web albums, and you can delete them from the web by taking them out of your Photos for Google Maps folder if you decide you’d rather not have the public looking at that picture of your spaghetti dinner.

You can also now manage starred and recently visited places using the My Places option, create a new Place page if you’re trying to use Google Maps to “check-in” to a place that isn’t currently recognized, and view a “My Places” list of locations visited recently or starred.

Google released an updated version of Google Maps for Android today, and while the company made a big fuss about a new feature that tells you when you’ve reached your stop on a bus, there’s another feature tucked away in the app which is at least as cool.

You can now download maps to your device so you can look up locations, get directions, or even use navigation even when you have no internet connection.

Here’s how to enable the feature:

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Google Maps for Android has long offered the ability to get walking, biking, driving, or public transit directions plotted on a map. But the company has been gradually adding location-based Navigation features as well. First you could get free turn-by-turn voice navigation instructions while you were driving. Then Google added the same option for walking navigation. Now you can also use Google Maps Navigation while you’re on the bus.

In a nutshell, you just turn on the GPS on your phone, find transit directions, hop on the bus, and Google Maps will let you know when you’ve reached your stop or when it’s time to transfer. If you have to walk between stops, it will guide you there as well. Navigation will also work in the background so you can open another app to read the news or play a game and your phone will alert you before it’s time to get off the bus.

Unfortunately since the app relies on GPS, I suspect it won’t work on subways.

The company says the update also includes a beta feature designed to improve battery life when using navigation.

Google Maps 5.7 for Android also has new search features with category icons in the suggest window. Places you’ve previously received directions to will also show up in search suggestions now.

Google Maps is available as a free download from the Android Market and supports Android 2.1 and up.

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Google has begun offering live transit information in Google Maps. That means you can fire up the Google Maps web site in your desktop web browser to see where the bus you’re waiting for is actually at. But the service is also available in Google Maps for Mobile. It works in the Google Maps Android app as well as the mobile web site for the service as long as you have a supported mobile web browser.

Right now live transit updates are only available in 6 cities: Boston, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Madrid, and Turin. That’s because Google has to partner with transit agencies to actually get this data. Hopefully the service will expand to include additional cities soon.

I live in Philadelphia where the Southeast Pennsylvania Transit Authority recently rolled out a service called TransitView which shows the locations of SEPTA buses and trolleys equipped with GPS. The service is also available on smartphones, but it would be even more convenient if the data were included in Google Maps.
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Google has made it easier to check-in to places, rate or review places, and find transit directions using Google Maps for Android. Google Maps 5.5 hit the Android Market yesterday, and it features redesigned Place pages, and updated transit information.

When you open a Place page for a restaurant, museum, or other institution, you can now find buttons at the bottom to rate, review, or check in using Google Latitude. You can also now change your home or work address in Google Latitude using the mobile app, which should make your Latitude history more accurate.

Google has also updated transit station pages, making it easier to view scheduled bus or train departures at a glance, see color-coded descriptions of which transit routes stop at the station, and what other stations are nearby. Google offers transit information in 440 cities.

Google Maps 5.5 is available as a free download for Android 1.6 and up.