14 DAY TRIAL // If you needed any more proof that Google is about to unveil a revamped Maps website, there's now actual evidence that the new Maps is being unveiled at Google I/O.
Someone at Google jumped the gun and revealed the signup page for the new Google Maps. It seems that the changes are great that Google will be rolling out the new Maps gradually, only to users who request invites.
Along with the signup page, the tour for the upcoming Maps revamp was also revealed, providing the most crucial details.
One of the things Google is touting is that each map is now tailored for every "search and click you make." What this means is that Maps will only display the details that are relevant in the current context rather than showing everything and hoping some of the info is useful.
What's more, it seems that the new Google Maps will learn from your usage and will become increasingly personalized based on the things you search for.
Search itself is getting a lot more powerful, as it now goes beyond locations and provides info on places, reviews, destinations, indoor maps, and so on.
There will also be more imagery in the new Maps, or at least it will be better grouped together. Maps already displays images from Street View, Google's own Panoramio, Flickr, and other sources. Now, all the images are available in the same place.
Another big new feature is Google Earth integration. Earth will now run out of the box, for those with WebGL enabled, which should be most people running a modern browser.
This means that, finally, you won't need a plugin to get 3D models on the web. It gets better as Google seems to be focusing on the HD 3D models that were introduced for a few locations last year, in the wake of Apple's Maps announcement.
It is also possible that the new Google Maps will be WebGL-only, as Google has been experimenting with a hardware accelerated version of the site for a few months. At the very least, image-based tiles will be replaced by vectors, which are more data-efficient and look better as well.
