New with Google multisearch, Google Maps, and more previews of Bard

Google has announced many changes coming to Google Search, Google Lens, Google Maps and Google Translate today. This comes out of the live stream from Paris this morning, which we thought would be originally around Google’s AI efforts in Search but that was quickly announced on Monday as Google Bard.

So what is new? Google did spend some showcasing Bard again, we covered that in detail over here.

Multisearch / Lens updates

Google announced a few updates and new information across multisearch, Android and Google Lens specific to Google Search.

What is Google multisearch? Google multisearch lets you use your phone’s camera to search with an image, powered by Google Lens, and then add an additional text query on top of the image search. Google will then use both the image and the text query to show you visual search results.

What is near me multisearch? The near me aspect lets you zoom in on those image and text queries by looking for products or anything via your camera but also to find local results. So if you want to find a restaurant that has a specific dish, you can do so.

• Multisearch is coming to the web soon. Google said in the next few months, we should see this option on mobile devices on the web.
• Multisearch is available globally on mobile, in all languages and countries where Lens is available.
• Multisearch near me is expanding to images on the web globally on mobile in the next few months.

Google Lens – 10 billion. Google Lens lets you snap a photo and Google can tell you more about that photo. Now, Google Lens is used more than 10 billion times per month, according to Google. I guess adding Google Lens to the Google homepage encourages usage.

Google Maps updates

Google is rolling out new features for Google Maps for EVs, glanceable directions, immersive views and indoor live views in the coming months.

• Glanceable directions by viewing your route overview or lock screen, this includes information such as estimated arrival times and your next turn details without having to go into the Google app. Google said this is coming to Android and iOS devices in the coming months.
• Immersive view launching in more cities, such as London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo today and then Florence, Venice, Amsterdam, and Dublin in the coming months.
• Search with live view is coming to Barcelona, Madrid and Dublin in the coming months.
• Indoor live view is coming to over 1,000 new airports, train stations, and malls in cities over the next months, including in London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Barcelona, Prague, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Sydney, Melbourne, São Paulo, Singapore, and Taipei.
• EV maps features are rolling out in the coming months, such as a new filter to find fast chargers that charge over 150 kilowatts, show you if locations have EV chargers, and, most importantly, Google will let you add stops along the way for charging your EV.

Google Translate updates

Google is rolling out new Google Translate features including a new design, AR improvements and contextual translation options.

• New design for the Google Translate app for Android is coming soon, bringing a glanceable screen, more accessible features and new gestures for maneuvering your frequent and recent translations.
• Translation and AR with more seamless translation, which we covered here, has now begun rolling out globally.
• Contextual translation options are coming to Google Translate that will provide richer, more contextual translations for single words, short phrases, and phrases with multiple meanings, Google said. This should help searchers better understand and find the best translation based on the context. This will start rolling out in English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish in the coming weeks and will expand to even more languages in the next few months

Watch it

Here is the presentation, if you would like to watch it: