14 DAY TRIAL // Google has announced that it has expanded its partnership with car manufacturer BMW to include a greatly improved set of services with each BMW sold with a built-in navigation system.
It's hard to think of a place where mapping services are more useful than in a car. If you're in a car, you want to go somewhere and you may not always know how to get there.
And even if you know how to get there, you may find yourself looking for a hotel or a place to eat, a time when Google comes in very handy.
"Google is working with the automotive industry to bring Google innovations and services into cars, and to give our users access to relevant information while driving," Markus Mühlbauer, Engineering and Product Manager, Automotive at Google, wrote.
"Today, we’re happy to announce that in a joint effort with BMW, we have renewed the package of Google services that come with BMW’s ConnectedDrive service," he announced.
"BMW is introducing these services in every new car equipped with a professional navigation system as of September 2010," he explained.
The updated ConnectedDrive will only be available to customers in several countries, Germany, Austria, France, Italy and the UK. The services will likely be extended to customers elsewhere, but Google isn't saying anything for now.
One very useful new feature is suggestions in Google Local Search. If you've tried it, you know searching for anything online using a car's controls is not the greatest or fastest experience.
Selecting one letter at a time makes it very time consuming, which is where suggestions come in handy. After only the first few letters of a query and based on your location Google Local Search will offer suggestions for places nearby.
The second big feature is the introduction of location photos for the places you're trying to get to. Google already has a huge amount of location photos, satellite images, Street View and user-created photos.
All of them will be available for BMW drivers to make sure that they know what their destination looks like before they get there.
