As great as Google Maps is, if you need to be directed to somewhere really specific--as in, a specific room in a specific building on a specific street--it stumbles. Not too long ago, we predicted that crowdsourcing would bring mapping indoors, and go figure, Google is leading the charge: the tech giant has unveiled a prototype smartphone that uses sensors to constantly map the world around it, giving everyone (customers and Google) more detailed maps.

 

Called Project Tango, the prototype is a 5-inch Android phone that monitors its position and orientation as it travels in your pocket; after moving around enough, it develops a 3-D view of your world: your house, the coffee shop you visit, that one bar down the street. Google has 200 of the devices, and will start shipping them out to developers this month.