Android Autogot amajor design refresh not too long agothat allowed more efficient utilization of your car’s screen. Depending on the display size and aspect ratio, Android Auto could display multiple apps side by side, like YouTube Music running on one side with Google Maps taking up the other half. It now looks likeGoogle Mapson Android Auto is getting a more immersive view that its phone app has supported for long — 3D buildings.
The 3D buildings feature for certain cities has been around on Google Maps formore than a decadewhile there’s also a toggle to enable it. This immersive view is particularly helpful in finding a place easily, especially when you’re in a new city. It’s been available on the Maps app for Android and iPhone but hasn’t been an option on Android Auto — until now.
A Reddit userspottedthat Maps on Android Auto has started showing 3D buildings for them recently. They hadn’t toggled any setting in the previous week, leading us to believe that it is a server-side change. As shown in the screenshot above, the buildings here appear translucent with the path you’re on in focus. Do note that the navigation isn’t turned on in the screenshot. Another usercommentedin the same thread that they too have the feature on Google Maps for iPhone but not on theirPixel 7.
While these 3D buildings don’t appear during navigation on Android Auto (based on what we have gathered so far), your phone may be getting that feature at least. A report by9to5Googlesays that Maps has started showing 3D buildings even while you’re navigating on your phone (screenshots below). Before this, the feature would only appear when you’re browsing the Maps app and not while the app is giving you directions. You can try out the feature by turning on the 3D option from the layers menu available on the Maps’ home screen and zooming in until the buildings turn three-dimensional.
Source:9to5Google
Several users can reportedly already see 3D buildings while navigating on the Maps app for Android, indicating that Google is rolling out the feature to a wider audience, albeit a little slowly. Meanwhile, the new Android Auto addition isn’t as widely available right now, making it hard to say for sure if this is a part of a public release or a limited test. We will hopefully find that out in the coming weeks as it rolls out to more people.
In case you don’t like the buildings to appear in 3D or find them intrusive, you’re able to turn off the feature from the same layers menu. And if Google Maps itself isn’t your jam, there areplenty of alternatives available for Androidthat you can consider switching to.
