You Can Now Ask Google for Information About the Places You Are Near
Google is adding another trick to its search box repertoire. Now, if you search from a device that knows your location, you can get information about a place without specifying what it is.
As pointed out by Android Police, the Google search box will now accept words like “here” and “this place” instead of proper nouns if you are near the specified place. If you are standing next to the Empire State Building, you might ask, “How tall is this building?” and Google will show you the height of the Empire State Building. Here is a list of some of the other well-known commands:
- What is this museum?
- When does this restaurant open?
- How tall is it? (when standing next to the tower)
- When was it built? (for monuments)
- What is the name of this church?
- What is the phone number at this pharmacy?
This feature is gradually becoming available to users in many countries. It’s unclear if this is intended for widespread deployment or just for testing, but it’s worth a try.
Live Google geo-contextual search with a few commands such as “Ok Google – what’s the phone number for this place?” | Police Android