Google’s developing a feature to show brightly lit streets on Maps

It seems Google is working on a feature for Maps to highlight brightly lit streets at night.

The new functionality — dubbed “Lighting” — aims to make your night time travels safer by helping you avoid streets with poor or no lighting. Well-lit streets will be marked in yellow, according to code hidden inside Maps beta release (v10.31.0) as spotted by XDA Developers.

Unfortunately, there are no images of the feature in action, as it’s still under development. There’s also no telling if the feature will be available worldwide, or limited strictly to specific regions. Another missing piece of information is how Google intends to source street lighting data, or keep the service up-to-date.

This is hardly the first time the Big G has rolled out features designed to make it safer for users to navigate away from trouble. A couple of years back, the company embedded SOS Alerts straight into Maps in order to steer users away from natural disaster. Indeed, TNW staffers noticed Google marked the London Bridge as a “danger zone” during recent incidents.

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Back in June, Maps introduced a “Stay Safer” feature in India which notified users if their driver has strayed away from the expected route.

As with all APK teardown scoops, it’s worth noting there’s no guarantee this feature will ever see the light of day. If it does, though, we’ll make sure to keep you appraised.