[video_popup width="805" height="454" video_link="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hffP2vr1Jk" video_image_link="https://www.tnooz.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Screen-Shot-2014-06-20-at-10.59.56-AM-e1403276078927.png"]
Google has added interactive mapping to its flight search technology, encouraging exploration and random destination selection via the map.
Users add the origin and a projected timeframe, and click on the "Expand Map" box to see the entire world on one screen. Airfare pricing pops up upon hover, allowing users to explore the cost of traveling to different destinations from one location.
Filters such as the number of stops, price, duration, airline and time allow for more granular control of the displayed prices.
This allows for an easy negotiation between agony and convenience, especially targeted to flexible holiday-making and leisure travel without a set destination in mind. The tool could also be beneficial for a business traveler planning a series of flexible meetings in the months ahead.
After selecting a particular destination, Google seeds an image from its Places database above a graph depicting the average annual airfare spread. A "Show Flights" button is available for users ready to see the actual flights from the chosen city pair.
The requirement to add in a timeframe means that some dates must be known; however, it's easy to adjust and see the respective price changes.
Users can select the now-classic "I'm Feeling Lucky" button to have a randomized destination as well, offering a bit of exploration potential for casual and/or adventurous travel browsers. Dreamers can envision simply clicking the button to be whisked away to an unknown exotic destination.
For more general searches, the company says in the blog post that regions can also be selected.
Additionally, whenever you type a region (e.g. “South America”) as your destination in Flight Search you’ll see cards for the most popular destinations within that region, and destinations personalized for you based on your past searches. We’ll also provide a map so you can see where these places are located -- as well as the lowest fare and duration to fly to each place.
Note the organic integration of the "cards" nomenclature - Google continues to ensure that each product iteration fits into the card format that drives the Google Glass interface's information delivery vehicle.