Two months after Apple started adding sidewalk detail in New York and other U.S. cities...

...Google now appears to be doing the same.

Here’s San Francisco:

The sidewalk detail is easier to see with all of the map’s labels removed:

UPDATE #1 | February 2020

In mid-February, Google removed the sidewalk detail it had added in San Francisco and replaced it with new, darker sidewalk detail:

As before, this new sidewalk detail is easier to see if you remove some of the map’s other features:

But in other areas, such as London, the sidewalk detail still looks the same as before:

UPDATE #2 | August 2020

In mid-August, Google announced that it would add “highly detailed street information” to its maps of San Francisco, New York City, and London.

According to Google, shapes for “sidewalks, crosswalks, and pedestrian islands” will also be included. Given everything we’ve seen, it seems as if Google has been quietly testing aspects of this new feature over the past several months.

As of mid-August 2020, this new detail hasn’t yet been released.