Google Maps Now Tells You Where To Go, What To Eat And If You Should Even Breathe The Air

Forget just about getting there! Google Maps is your new best friend for exploring, eating, and if you are extremely health conscious, even avoiding toxic air. Yes, if you’ve been using Google Maps only for navigating to destinations, you might be living under a rock, because its tech and features have seen massive refreshes over time. Here are a slew of interesting and useful Google Maps features that are a must-try:

1. Customisation: By tapping the blue arrow on the app, you can add different eye-catching car types and colours to your navigation icon: from a racecar to an SUV, to a pickup truck. 

2. Gemini-Powered Ideas: To find Gemini-curated suggestions for places to visit, ask Maps for “things to do with friends at night in Bengaluru” or “winter activities in Mussoorie.” You can get information about a location, including parking, dress code and more.

3. Menu Highlights: Use Maps to learn about popular dishes at a restaurant. Search for a restaurant and scroll to “menu highlights”; it’ll offer both pictures and reviews.

4. AR Insights: New to a neighbourhood? Tap the camera symbol in the search box and raise your phone. Lens in Maps will allow AR to overlay information such as location name, traffic, etc.

5. Easy Reservations: To make a reservation at a restaurant, search on Google Maps and, if it has a booking partner, tap “Reserve.”

6. Group Outings With Lists: Using Lists, make a collaborative list where your friends and family can bookmark places and vote on them using emojis: a heart emoji to show that you want to try a restaurant or a thumbs down to skip it.

7. Arrival Guidance: Arrival Guidance can help you find the correct entry in a big apartment, also indicating neighbouring parking lots, etc. You can also obtain walking directions from your car to the entrance and enter Street View or AR walking navigation.

8. Immersive View: This feature allows you to see how stadiums, parks, or roads look like and check weather and traffic, so you’re prepared beforehand for travel. 

9. Air Quality: Going for a run or a walk outside but worried about air quality? Simply tap the layers button and choose “Air Quality” to get a map with air quality levels colour-coded.

10. Popular Times: To save time and prevent long lineups, go to Popular times after searching for a place to view a graph showing how busy it is both normally and currently. 

11. Use Offline: You can use Google Maps offline to get navigational information whether you’re in a new place or in an area with poor signal. Search a location, tap the name or address, then choose “Download” to navigate without requiring a connection. 

12. EV Charging Stations: Depending on availability, you can enter the make and model of your EV into Maps, and it’ll automatically display charging stations that are compatible with it either nearby or on your path. You can even check availability of charging stations in real time.

13. Fuel-Efficient Routing: This feature uses AI to provide you the most energy- or fuel-efficient route. Pull up directions to the place and use the green leaf to touch on the route.

Yes, indeed! Google Maps has literally gone from "Where the heck am I?" to "Ooh, look at that!" And Other Handy Stuff.