Google Maps has a solution for those who find it frustrating when their car navigation goes dark in tunnels.
The Google Maps app has an option to continue tracking location in tunnels, which isn’t possible with the standard method as GPS doesn’t work inside tunnels.
Google Maps will switch to using Bluetooth “beacons” to track the phone’s position, until GPS signal is available again.
This feature came to Google-owned Waze in 2016. It’s late, if anything.
To turn on tunnel navigation in Google Maps, open up the app and tap your account button at the top-right of the screen (typically represented by your Google account photo). Select Settings and then Navigation Settings.
Down towards the bottom of this menu, there should be a switch to turn on “Bluetooth Tunnel Beacons".
“The Beacon is a cost-effective, battery-operated, low-energy micro-controller hardware that sends a one-way signal to a user’s phone or tablet without capturing any information about the user,” says Google.
“The signal from each Beacon enables Waze to continue routing drivers and collecting real-time traffic data underground.”
We’ve asked TfL which of London’s major tunnels have such Bluetooth beacons installed.
However, these beacons have already been used in multiple ways in London, and for pedestrians rather than car drivers.
In 2015, Bluetooth beacons were installed in Euston Underground station in order to help blind and visually impaired people navigate. This project was launched in association with Google, and used Wayfindr software to provide travellers with audio guidance. We wrote about Wayfindr's Tube project back in 2017.
Also in 2017, Bluetooth beacons were installed at London’s Gatwick Airport, 2000 of them. It was part of a collaboration with Pointr, a “deep location company” based in central London. Apparently, Bluetooth beacon companies have something against the letter “e”.
According to a TechCrunch article from the time, the plan was to use the data acquired (which would not be linked to any person’s identity) to help with queue measurement, streamlining passenger flows, and reducing congestion.
