Google Maps may have a mode that makes walking through the night city safer. This is indicated by a new layer of Lighting, which will give you a good view of lit streets and open spaces. Its authors XDA Developers found in the latest beta-version (10.31.0) of the application.

Judging by the code lines, the roads with bright illumination on Google’s “Maps” will be highlighted in yellow. The new feature will help tourists to get to the hotel in an unfamiliar area without accidents, and for people walking alone – will lay a route avoiding those places where the lighting is weak or absent.
Screenshots of the Lighting layer were not provided by the staff of the publication. This may mean that the function is under active development and is not even ready for testing yet.

“Smart” streetlights are still very rare even in developed countries, so the question of how Google will collect data on street lighting remains open. It is possible that the company will use satellite images or will receive data from the residents themselves (as is the case with traffic accident records).

Over the past year, Google has introduced many functions in “Maps”, focused on hiking. In August, for example, the application began to test the augmented reality mode. When the user will lay a foot route and turn on the Live View, the program will determine its location and display huge 3D-arrows and street pointers, which will noticeably facilitate orientation on unfamiliar areas.

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