Buy From the Map: Google Maps Advances into Mobile Payments

While many of us have turned to Google Maps when it comes to figuring out how far away something is from our current location, or where certain things even are, we don’t often use it when we want to buy something.

A new development in Google Maps version 9.17 may change that and make it easier for us to turn to the map to buy.

The newest word from PC World suggests that the latest Google Maps update boasts new features involving gas prices and the amenities found at certain hotels. Not bad additions; you can already find gas stations and hotels on Google Maps anyway, so why not learn about pricing therein?

A subsequent Android application package (APK) analysis from Android Police subsequently revealed that the gas prices are limited to the 87 octane version only, but placeholders are on hand for the higher-test varieties. Meanwhile, the hotel listings are set to include icons denoting things like strollers for child-friendly stays, snowflakes for air conditioning, and so on.

This is all still early-stage stuff, but it’s not a far jump from here to connect Google Maps to, say, Android Pay and produce a powerful new package where users can not only see what prices are on the map, but also actually pay for those items direct from that map.

While in some cases it might not work as well as others, it might work very well in certain situations. The hotel stay may be one of the best; since most hotel stays require some kind of credit card anyway, why not connect it directly to Android Pay and make the payment for a night’s stay that way?

That could be a huge development for travelers; stop and consider how a traveler in an unfamiliar location could check Google Maps, find a hotel, and then book a room right from the same interface.

With a temporary base camp set, that same traveler could find a gas station and pre-pay for a tank’s worth, find a restaurant and set a dinner order, and then fall back to the hotel for the night. That’s a pretty great way to get lost, and how many users out there would like to be on the good end of that kind of lost?

While none of this may actually come to pass, it’s a pretty safe bet that Google has an interesting idea here, and one that could revolutionize travel as we know it. It may not be the kind of competitive edge that could last long—it wouldn’t be hard to see Apple build Apple Pay into Apple Maps, and maybe even back it up with Siri; “Siri, find me a hotel near here and book a room.”—but if Google could do it first, it may have just the edge it would need to make Android Pay really viable in the face of so much competition.