Google recently added new accessibility features to Google Maps, Google Search, and Google Assistant, allowing users to make their lives more convenient through Google services.
Last year, Google Maps services were added to the US, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco.Augmented reality search function (Search with Live View) allows users to more intuitively find nearby attractions, restaurants, and other places in the form of augmented reality.
In this update, the name has been changed to Lens in Maps, allowing users who are not familiar with the place to go to more easily find public transportation stations, restaurants, or ATM locations. It even provides a screen reader function for users with poor eyesight, allowing users to more conveniently know the specific location of the place they are looking for through the phone's reading function.
Currently, this feature will be available for the iOS version of Google Maps and is expected to be available for the Android version later. To use it, you only need to tap the camera icon on the screen and hold the phone upright so that the phone lens can capture the scene in front, allowing the system to provide explanations based on the captured scene.
In addition, Google has added wheelchair accessibility marking features to the Android and iOS versions of Google Maps in regions around the world, making it easier for users to find wheelchair-accessible routes through their phones, while also making it easier for travelers carrying large luggage to pass through.
In the location information of Google Maps, Google has added labels to indicate whether the business is run by people with disabilities, Asians, blacks, or Latinos. Other labels include whether the business is run by women, the elderly, or LGBTQ+ people, so that users can maintain a certain degree of respect when visiting such stores.
Other updates include adding more customization settings to the Google Assistant Routines function, such as customizing the shortcut icon and display block size, and further bringing the previously enhanced typo correction and recommended website display functions for the Chrome browser search field to the Android and iOS versions of the Chrome browser, allowing users to browse the content of the website they want to visit faster.
Google also provides an app called Magnifier for people with visual impairments. Through cooperation with the Royal Institute for the Blind in the UK and the National Federation of the Blind, users can install this app on Pixel 5 and above (but not Pixel Fold). It can be used like a magnifying glass to help users see small text in books and newspapers, or check distant road signs through their phones. It can also help users see images in front of them through color filters, brightness and contrast adjustment.
The Guided Frame photo-assistance app, which previously launched and uses sound, vibration, and enhanced contrast to help visually impaired users easily take selfies, has been updated with facial recognition. This makes it easier for the visually impaired to take selfies, even photos of pets and restaurants, and can also be used to capture document content. This feature is currently available on the Pixel 8 series and is expected to be available on the Pixel 6 series and later.
