Google just announced a nice addition to its Street View feature in Google Maps. Starting today, you will be able to see the names of local businesses as you move through a town in Street View. A click on one of these names will bring up the standard Google Maps business listing with the name of the business, hours, phone number, address and reviews. According to Google, these new “local business annotation” in Street View are the first step in the company’s plans to enhance the discoverability of content in Street View.
As Stephane Lafon, one of the software engineers on Google’s Street View team points out, Street View will currently only highlight the top listings for the immediate area around your current position in Street View. The company plans to extend this coverage with more listing soon. Google also plans to incorporate transit locations in this feature.
Bonus Tip: Street View in 3D
Earlier this month, we noticed that Google still offered the 3D version of Street View it announced on April Fool’s day. To see this, just right-click on any Street View image and select “3D mode on.”
Google is clearly working hard on highlighting local businesses across its properties. Google Maps already shows the names of local businesses once you zoom in close enough, and last week Google announcedGoogle Places, a new version of its Local Business Center, which allows local retailers and restaurants to claim and update their own listings. In addition, Google is also taking pictures of the in and outside of local businesses around the U.S.
