Live View navigation uses a so-called Visual Positioning System (VPS) to give you direction. You simply hold up your phone camera and the Maps app will visually place your location and help you navigate with augmented reality markers. The mode went into private testing earlier this year.
This is a huge leap from the traditional, compass-based navigation on phones, which is imprecise and can cause confusion when standing still or moving at a low speed. The VPS system compares camera data with data captured from Google’s Street View program to help place a user in their environment. Google did demo a system where an AR fox or other creature would guide you to your destination, but that feature isn’t rolling out to the public just yet.
Source: ArsTechnica
