Whether it’s been a torrentially stormy summer for you or a tumbleweed-dry fire-storming summer for you, you more likely than not want to stay indoors. For those of you lucky enough to be enjoying benign, temperate, and agreeable weather, good on you.
For the rest of us, though, we probably don’t need to be lingering outside unless there’s a legitimate reason to stay outside. One of the best things to do, I’ve found, especially if you have shoddy air conditioning like me, is to go to a mall or theatre or some other place that is big and well air conditioned. If you’re going to do that, maybe it’d be handy for you to have a map of where you’re going so you don’t lose your way while wandering down the enchantingly brisk corridors of a giant facility. We here in the United States have been able to enjoy indoor maps for a while and recently Bing expanded its Venue Maps to include a ton of shopping malls in the U.K. Now, Google Maps has announced it’s also making available over 40 indoor maps for places in the U.K.
Google, as is their humorous wont, couldn’t help but have a little fun with the launch of these new indoor maps. In the past generation, you’d be hard-pressed to find somebody that hasn’t been exposed to the Harry Potter series, and since Google mapped out King’s Cross Station in London, those clever map-makers just had to throw in Platform 9¾.
And yes, I verified it – Platform 9¾ is really there in the indoor maps of Kings Cross. I hate to break it to you, though, but I don’t know of any Google product that’s gonna help you pass through that brick wall.
If you’re not too busy trying to catch the Hogwarts Express this summer, maybe these indoor maps from Google will help some of you get around if you’re attending the London Summer Olympics that kick off later this month. Then again, you have to prioritize your interests, right? And you may never get to play wizard ever again.