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Google Maps is not just for navigation, now it can suggest places for lunch ala Foursquare

Google just released the latest update of their map for both android and iOS platform. The latest update will give a more personalized restaurant recommendation to the user in the 'Explore' feature of the map.

The news was announced in Google senior product manager's blog post today according to Venture Beat.

According to Google, the latest update will enable users to pick a restaurant according to a wide array of options, from "restaurant serving cheap food" to "restaurant serving fastest food" depending on their preferences.

For users in a big city such as New York, San Francisco, and London, the new update is more personalized. 

Users will also be able to search for food based on what kind of environment they want. For example, a user can simply search for "place to eat after running" or "baby friendly restaurant" through the new Google Maps. Through this addition, Google will be able to achieve its target to provide users with "local flavor" for each place they visit.

According to The Next Web, this latest feature will also show users a lot of information about each restaurant they are planning to visit.

Among them are pictures, rating, and user reviews of a restaurant. This new update is possible thanks to Google's ability to filter through thousands of data using their algorithm and other services such as Zagat, TechCrunch reported.

Another feature in the latest update is the apps can store user's restaurant preferences based on where they have been eating to give out the best recommendation and it will also recommend restaurant based on user that have been going to the same type of restaurant that you have been to.

The latest update will give users more variety when choosing their preferred restaurant instead of searching for specific food or type of dishes they are planning to eat. This new feature will set Google Maps in par with other types of map such as Foursquare. The latest update, however, can only be accessed by users in the United States and the United Kingdom only for now.

This is the second update of the map by Google after their last 'Timeline' feature of the map which critics said is not a useful addition to the map. According to Google, the new update will be available to users in other places in the coming months.


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