One small step for Google, on giant leap for customer map creators. The company has added a new feature to the Android version of Google Maps that allows users to view user-created maps. As I said, this is a small step for Google because there’s obviously no iOS support for this feature yet and even the Android feature doesn’t allow you to edit the maps.
The Google Maps team announced the rollout of a new feature to the Android app: the ability to use maps created with My Maps. A little background is in order: My Maps was originally a feature of the Maps web app introduced in 2007. In 2011, the feature was rolled into the My Places feature, but My Places was not included in the current version of Maps, which landed in 2013. That meant that users who wanted to create their own maps had to use a tool called Google Maps Engine Lite, launched the same year. Finally, in September 2014, Google renamed Engine Lite to My Maps, completing, in a way, the circle. Yeah, we’re confused too… Google My Maps for Android is a distinct app available in the Play Store that lets you do exactly what the name suggests. Up until now you couldn’t see your custom maps in the main Google Maps app, but that changes.
