Need to find the food court at the mall or the closest airport bathroom? You may be in luck. Google has announced plans to bring its mapping technology to the great indoors. With the launch of Google Maps 6.0, users of mobile devices running Android now have the ability to use Google Maps not just to get directions to an IKEA, Macy's or one of several airports, but to use the mapping functionality to figure out how to find housewares, ATMs, and your flight gate once you are inside.
Acording to the LA Times, Google's inside mapping will work similarly to its outside mapping. A little blue dot will move along with you to show you where you are, and the technology is even able to know what floor you are on -- what Steve Lee, director of product management for Google, called "the third dimension of mapping."
Just note that the release is pretty limited. Although Google's launch partners include 18 U.S. airports -- notably some of the biggies, such as Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and San Francisco International Airport (obviously) -- LAX and JFK are still not available.
Some of the big-box stores such as IKEA, Macy's, Bloomingdales and Home Depot have already been mapped, but not Target. Not Wal-Mart. And not nearly as many malls as you'd like to see, especially in this holiday season. Just another example of the shopping experienced being enhanced through technology.


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