Google Maps Labs has got some nice features that would certainly improve your Google Maps experience.

Google Maps has revolutionized the way JavaScript has been used in web development. Apart from the technicality improvements it certainly has improved the way we looked at maps and directions. Even though Google Maps currently has features that would make you use it comfortably without complaining too much there are certainly room for improvements.

Have you ever faced a situation where you zoomed into a map location a bit too much where it said “we don’t have imagery at this zoom level”? Instead of displaying that message to disappoint/annoy us how about if it zoomed only to a level where there are images available and stopped us zooming in any further? Wouldn’t that be a good thing?

That and many other features are what Google Maps team is working on and they have put out some of the features for the public to test on their Labs section. Some of these features that I handpicked would certainly improve the way you’ve used Google Maps.

Distance Measurement Tool

With this feature you can easily measure distance between two points on the map. You don’t have to get to the Directions tab anymore to find out about the distance between two places on the map. With the Distance Measurement Tool, just a simple drag and drop would give you the distance between the two places.

Short URL

Ever wanted to share a map with your friends and don’t want to send them that lengthy, garbage URL that you normally would? Try this feature and you can send a lot tiny URL that your friends can even remember (in most cases). This feature uses Google’s own URL shortener Goo.gl to shorten the URL.

Drag and Zoom

If you are annoyed with using the zoom sliders or double-clicking on the map forever to zoom in to a place in Google Maps you would love this feature which lets you zoom in to any section of the map with just a drag. Click on the Drag and Zoom button and start dragging and Google Maps will automatically zoom into the place without you doing much.

What’s Around Here?

If you are travelling to a place and ever wanted to know in advance what that place has to offer in terms of interesting places around that place? With What’s Around Here feature you can easily find out some of the interesting and useful places around any place in the map.

Smart Zoom

Many times when you zoom in too much into a place in Google Maps and when there are no images available Google Maps annoys you with the message that there are no images available at that zoom level. With Smart Zoom feature enabled you won’t get that message anymore instead you would only be able to zoom in to a level where images are available.

I’m sure you must have realized by now how much of a better experience you would get out of Google Maps when you enable these Labs features. Keep in mind that you would have to click on the “Labs” icon at the top right hand corner of the Google Maps page and then have to “Enable” the above features to make use of them.