Is Google Maps getting a UI update?

Everyone’s favorite ‘find everything’ utility, Google Maps, may have found itself a face-lift. If the news from an unofficial Google news site is right, we’ll be seeing the new interface at some point. When that could be isn’t clear, but with I/O next week, it could be pretty soon.

What’s new? We can’t really say ‘new’, but there is a nice polish to the alleged new interface. Rather than a search bar at the top, and a sidebar to the left, Maps would now be full screen. There will be a floating search bar, but the map itself is full screen. It looks as though it relies on drop-down findings from the search bar, in a richer looking format.

Full screen and drop-down findings are nice, but what is of perhaps more interest is Google’s styling. Google is fond of keeping their sites and services pretty uniform in design, so we have to wonder if this is a tip of the hat to further reaching changes afoot. If it is, we like what we’re seeing with Maps. This is for the desktop version, so we also have to wonder if the mobile app will get a new look as well.

A few shots are below. Again, none of this is official, but those shots look pretty legitimate to us. If they are fake, the culprit was smart enough to add a “Welcome to the new Google Maps” box in the upper right. Besides, who would want to fake a Google Maps UI update?

Are you buying it? What do you think? Tell us in the comments section!

Thanks, Brent!