Google Maps Can Now Use ‘Live View’ AR to Pinpoint Your Exact Location

Jul. 15, 2020

Users, until now, could only calibrate the orientation of the geo-magnetic sensor (electronic compass) in their smartphones by moving the device in a ‘figure 8’. That will remain the case for the sensor itself. However, Google Maps will now be able to improve its accuracy with the new feature. The option can reportedly be accessed by tapping on the blue dot seen in the GIF below.

Users can apparently tap on the blue dot to bring up the menu options seen below. As you can see, the final option on the list will be ‘Calibrate with Live View’. Choosing that option will open the camera UI used by Live View. According to the report, it will only take a few seconds of panning for the app to correctly access your location. Once that happens, the blue beam will be replaced by a solid arrow.

‘Calibrate with Live View’ has started rolling out to the latest stable and beta versions of Google Maps on severalARCore-compatible Android devices. It is, however, not available on iOS just yet. However, you’d expect Google to eventually roll it out on iPhones as well. So, is the new feature available on your device yet? Let us know in the comments below.

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