Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google is working on a new contextual chip for Gemini that will allow users to ask about places they see on Google Maps.
- The chip will attach a Google Maps link to the search box, allowing users to ask the AI digital assistant contextual queries centered around the place.
- The feature is not yet live but is expected to be released soon.
Google has been gradually building Gemini into a powerful AI digital assistant. As part of these efforts, the Gemini UI has received a few contextual chips, which add important context to your queries, simplifying the search experience. Google is working on a new contextual chip for Gemini, this time for Google Maps to quickly let you add a location context to your search.
An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
The latest Google app v16.4.35 beta adds a contextual chip for Google Maps that allows you to ask Gemini about places you see on your screen. With Google Maps active on your screen, you will soon see a new “Ask about place” chip whenever you trigger Gemini. Tapping on the chip will attach a Google Maps link to the search box, letting you ask contextual queries to the AI digital assistant.
We managed to activate the Google Maps contextual chip in Gemini, and here’s what it looks like:
You can see the feature in action in this hands-on video:
In its current iteration, the chip doesn’t show up for cities per se, but it shows up for locations within the area. This is possibly a bug that may get fixed by the time the feature is released to users.
For now, these contextual Google Maps chips are not live within Gemini. We’ll keep you updated when we learn more.
