For the last couple of years, my wife and I have relied on an ancient Garmin GPS for long road trips, in part because it had a useful feature that Google Maps lacked: speed limits. We might end up switching soon, because Google has begun rolling out the feature to Google Maps on iOS and Android devices.
The new feature, spotted by Android Police (via Mashable), displays the posted speed limit on roads in the corner of the app, and also introduces an icon to denote the location of speed cameras. Mashable reports that drivers will get an audio notification when they’re approaching a speed trap.
The update is currently rolling out to users in Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the United States, while speed camera icons are rolling out to Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, UK, and US users.
Google began testing the feature in 2016, and it had been available in only a couple of areas — San Francisco and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and an update to its Apple’s CarPlay app recently introduced the feature.
This new update will help users who might not drive cars with smart displays, and helps Google catch up to the likes of Waze and Garmin, which have long provided the information for drivers. I’ll certainly be testing it out on my next road trip.
