This afternoon, Google has quietly released an updated version of the S60 version of its Google Maps for Mobile application. The new version, 3.2.0, adds a 'Layers' feature which helps organise the information displayed on top of the map (including the existing Latitude, Driving Directions and Traffic functionality). However, Layers also gives access to some entirely new information including Transit Lines (e.g. London Underground), Wikipedia and My Maps (user generated content) overlays. Read on for more details and screenshots.

Layers can be accessed through the Options menu.

The layers functionality can be accessed from the Options menu (or pressing '2'). The initial screen allows you to see and control the active layers, as well as reload a recently viewed layers.

Transit overlay showing London Underground lines and
a My Maps 'Amsterdam map' provided by a third party.

The Transit Lines Layer shows public-transport that is not normally viewable on the base map (effectively a virtual metro map which sits on top of Google Maps). Shown above is an example from the London Underground system and a further 50 cities around the world are supported.

In some ways, the inclusion of My Maps functionality in Layers is the most interesting. In common with the web version of Google Maps, it allows you to add overlays from third party providers. These are often mash-ups created by individuals. The quality of these user-generated layers does tend to vary, but it is an interesting democratisation of information provision. Currently, to see these layers on your phone, you will need the My Maps layers first added via the web version of Google Maps (you'll need to be signed into your Google Account).

Also part of the My Maps functionality is 'My Saved Places' (effectively a 'My Map' that is automatically created for you). My Places let you save locations on the web version of Google Maps for later use. By adding access to My Saved Places on the mobile Google have, de facto, created a system to let you sync locations between the web and the phone (i.e. look it up on Google Maps web version, save it, and then look it up on your phone). My Saved Places is not, currently, integrated with the Favourites/landmarks system, but I suspect that may just be a matter of time. Clearly it brings to mind the Ovi Maps sync functionality, although the Google version is much clunkier by comparison.

The Wikipedia layer adds thousands of icons to Google Maps.

The Wikipedia layer is generated from a list of Wikipedia articles that are geo-referenced (have location information associated with them). An extract of the Wikipedia article can be accessed by clicking on the icon, and there's a link to the full version of the Wikipedia article. There's also a shortcut for Driving Directions to the location, and a Street View of the location (where available).

Examples of two of the layers: Driving Directions and Traffic

To access the new Layers functionality, existing users will need to download the new version of Google Maps.

As the application gets slightly more complex, it seems that some release notes are worth paying attention to(!):