Google Maps for Android gains UK floor plans

Google has set live its indoor Maps feature for the UK, albeit only for those using Android devices.

According to a blog post from Google UK 'geo indoor partnerships lead' Razia Ahmed, so far more than 40 venues in the UK — including Kings Cross station and the Barbican in London — have provided indoor floor plans for the feature.

"Just open Google Maps on your Android mobile phone, zoom in to the location you're in and the indoor floor plan magically appears," Ahmed wrote. "And for buildings where the information is available, we'll even show you where you are on the map with a familiar blue dot if you've enabled the My Location feature."

Although the tally of buildings whose floor plans can currently be seen is very limited, Ahmed also pointed out that "any building owner can upload their maps for future inclusion in Google Maps".

Google has been recently adding many new features to its Maps tool in the UK, which may have something to do with the upcoming Olympics. Train information came in January, followed by Tube delay notifications in April.

However, the most important boost to the Google Maps platform in recent months has arguably been the introduction of offline functionality, which was announced just under a month ago.

Like the new floor plan announcement, the offline functionality is only for Android users of Google Maps. Apple introduced its own mapping software instead of Google Maps in iOS 6, the latest version of its iPhone and iPad operating system.