Yandex Maps Introduces AI-Curated Walking Routes with Audio Guides
Yandex Maps has introduced curated walking routes featuring built-in audio guides. Users can now explore ready-made itineraries covering destinations such as the area around the Moscow Kremlin, the historic churches of St. Petersburg, and Mon Repos Park. More than 400 walking routes are currently available across 36 Russian cities, with each route including descriptions, photos, and narrated audio commentary.
Routes can be filtered by duration, theme, and neighborhood. Categories include architecture, landmarks, nature, and family-friendly walks. The service also takes seasonal conditions into account and checks whether featured attractions are temporarily closed. The initial rollout covers popular tourist destinations, including Svetlogorsk, Krasnodar, and Nizhny Novgorod.
The routes and their descriptions are generated by artificial intelligence. The system analyzes the distance between points of interest, groups them into themed itineraries, and generates a short narrative for each stop using descriptions, photos, and user reviews. The completed audio guide is also narrated by an AI model.
The new walking routes are available in the Yandex Maps app under the What to Visit section or through the City Routes section of a user's profile.
