A new and improved version of the Google Maps navigation app arrived to users of Android smartphones and tablets on Wednesday, and will reportedly soon be available for competing Apple mobile device.

According to a statement from Google, the new version Google Maps for mobile “builds upon the design” the internet company released for the iPhone last year. Google’s maps app had initially not been available on the iPhone 5, which released last September, but came to the rescue when Apple’s own version of a navigation application more or less fell flat. The new version of the app is specifically targeted toward Android tablets and iPads, and will represent a few major improvements in the search and navigation departments. Daniel Graf, the director of Google Maps, wrote that the new version would “make exploring the world and getting to places that matter to you a lot faster and easier.”

One of those new exploratory features is simply dubbed “explore,” and will allow users to interactively venture through nearby areas without having to type in an address or business. The new Google Maps will instead included a search box that, when tapped, display a number of location cards for restaurants, bars, stores, malls, and hotels in a nearby vicinity. Older versions of Google Maps have already had a customized “nearby places” page, but according to Graf, the new and improved version will be more interactive and visually stimulating. And since the new Google Maps is optimized for tablets, users of Android slates–and later, of the Apple iPad–will find the visuals and maps brighter and more detailed than ever before.

The update has also boosted the core navigational properties of the Google Maps application. According to Graf, that includes traffic and accident reports and on-the-go rerouting that takes traffic times into more careful consideration.