504 - Design for Screen - Google Maps

Google Maps is the standard city sat-nav that I use on my phone to get from A to B. It is free and comes with a variety of solid features which for me, makes getting around very straight forward, be it driving, walking or cycling. 

The app opens to this page, a full-screen map, with your pin-point location in the centre, but the marker comes with a useful arrow, showing which direction you are standing in to make getting around new areas even easier as you don't have to do a 360degree spin of road names/landmarks on the map to check what direction you should actually be heading in. 
It comes with the useful search bar at the top, including a voice search option, if you are driving and cannot type or whatever; and also at the top is the hamburger icon for the main menu.
The top out of the two buttons bottom right will quickly centralise your location on the map if you stray away to plan ahead, and the bottom allows you to begin properly setting a start point and finishing destination in for directions.

Upon pressing the top search bar it will prompt you with the nearest useful services - supermarkets, petrol stations, etc.  
There is an option to sync up with your google account aswell to store journeys but it is not necessary.

Back on the first screen, if you select the little strip along the bottom "Explore food & drinks near you" it gives you google reviewed and ranked categories for different restaurants and bars nearby. You can select a cheap option to a more expensive one, all specified by what meal of the day you are wanting - this is a very useful feature and feels very approachable using a laid back tone of voice for users "Keep it cheap, Budget-friendly prices"

You can either select a destination from one of those options or if you have a more specific destination to travel to, you can simply just start typing in the destination and you will find the search engine throws out nearest most likely results as you type - also providing reference to the distance away from you it is.

Once your destination is ready and you have adjusted your starting point if needs be (but you will nearly always just start from 'Your Location') it will provide you with the quickest route options, varied across your method of transport - also showing time difference for each and then distance. Then hit 'Start', which will take you into the first person sat-nav mode with you at front centre travelling through the route with you as you go, so it is much more easy to follow - I want a slot for phones to be secured to the handle bars of bikes so they can safely glance at the directions as they cycle.

By clicking the strip at the bottom, it can bring up detailed written directions to follow, making use of arrows for each step for efficiency and to aid your eyes aswell as distance between each step. You can't go wrong really!

Upon pressing the three dots alongside the 'Your Location' bar at the top you can share your directions (ETA would be better aswell!?) with friends, aswell as adding in stops along the way and other personal little settings.

What I found very proactive with the new update for the app aswell is when you get out of your car, it will plot on the map for you where you have parked and push notifications to you aswell! A very useful feature for forgetful people.














OVERALL, it is a very purpose first app, with clean aesthetics which make travelling easy and I will be greatly inspired by Google for the navigation and satellite maps for my app too!