Google announced a new feature for Google Maps and a new feature for Google Maps for Mobile.

The first feature allows you to plot multiple searches on the same map. This comes in handy when you want to get driving directions, plus plot the various gas stations, golf courses, supermarkets and so on, along the route. Google will plot colored round circles as place marks for each landmark (i.e. gas station) you are looking for. Here is a picture of me plotting gas stations (purple) and golf courses (red) between two points:

The second announcement is that Google Maps for Mobile version 3.2 now supports layers. Google Maps has allowed you to add layers for a while now, but the mobile version was limited. Now, Google Maps for mobile on some devices support all the various layers, to lay on top of the maps. Some examples of layers include geographic content, like public transit, traffic (with incidents!), local search results, Latitude friend locations, Wikipedia and more. Plus you can add your own My Maps content as a layer.

To activate the layers on Google Maps for mobile 3.2, hit the “2″ key or select Layers in the menu. Layers for mobile maps is currently only available for Symbian S60 and Windows Mobile phones, more devices will be supported “soon,” said Google.

Postscript: Matt McGee actually spotted this a couple weeks ago, Google just announced it today.

Related Topics: Google: Maps & Local | Google: Mobile

About The Author: Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here. For more background information on Barry, see his full bio over here. See more articles by Barry Schwartz

Connect with the author via: Email | Twitter | Google+ | LinkedIn