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Google has made some tweaks to its Find My Device app that will come as welcome news to anyone who misplaces or outright loses their handset. A new update to the app brings indoor mapping support, meaning if you drop your phone in, say, a mall that’s supported (which is a key point — more on that in a second), you’ll be able to see not just that your phone is still at the mall, but where inside the mall it actually is.
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As a piece from Ars Technica
notes, indoor mapping is in many respects the next great mapping
frontier now that Google Maps has most of the outdoor world covered and
comprehensively mapped.
From that piece: “For indoor mapping, someone has to upload a floor
plan to Google Maps and then set up some kind of indoor positioning
system. Outdoor Google Maps can be powered by satellite imaging
and photos from Street View cars, but there’s no such shortcut for
indoor maps, which require each individual building owner to enter data.
Today you’ll find indoor maps mostly for places like airports, malls,
stadiums, and other large businesses. If you lose your device in one of
these places and the indoor positioning system actually works, you’ll
now be able to get a pinpoint location in Find My Device.”
Here’s an example of Google’s indoor mapping of Madison Square Garden:
The
downside of this news is Google doesn’t exactly make it clear which
buildings this new indoor mapping applies to, so you’ll kind of — have
to get lucky? A writer for The Verge noted GPS can also be a little screwy, so the app may not show your phone exactly
where it is in the building. Sort of the way my phone’s GPS often shows
me as standing somewhere other than where I am when I’m trying to hail
an Uber, or that I’m moving when I’m not.
You can use the Find My Device app on Android, available here, or via the web at google.com/android/find.
You can also just ask Google “Where’s my phone?” via Google Search or
using a Google Home device. And, of course, there are other related
features besides simply the ability to locate a lost phone. You can also
remotely erase it or make it ring to help you find it easier.
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