Google Maps Helps You Avoid Transit Crowds, Leave Better Reviews, Reminisce on the Good Old Days

We still very much live in a world where a global pandemic is alive and well. Depending on where you reside and whether or not the community you live in cares about one another, your day may be quite different from those in the state, county, or country over. To help everyone find ways to navigate this current time, help your local businesses stay alive, or to look back at a pre-pandemic world that let you vacation, Google Maps has some new features for you.

The first new feature is an expansion of transit crowdedness to more than 10,000 transit agencies and 100 countries. When you decide to leave the house and take a bus or train, you’ll be able to see whether or not that particular line is busy. The hope is to be able to clearly show you if there will be lots of open seats, a full car, or whether or not you’ll have to wait.

Additionally, Google is piloting a program in Sydney and New York where you’ll be able to see crowdedness down to the car. With this information, you could see which cars tend to be the busiest and can then plan to wait for the next or jump on now.

Next up, Google Maps plans to show you more Insights about your life and how you move with a new Timeline feature, assuming you have location tracking on. This area will show you how you get around, whether that’s walking or by car, the types of places you visit, and highlights. Why is any of this important? I have no idea. It really seems like Google flexing its data muscles a bit for those who like visuals on their life movements.

Where you might find meaningful information is the the Trips area of the Timeline. Trips will show not only all of your previous trips, it’ll help you plan new ones. For many of us, this area hasn’t changed much in the past year and a half. Hopefully, we can all add new memories to it soon.

Finally, Google Maps is getting a more detailed review form to let you leave reviews more easily, but also provide a bit more detail if you wish. Whether you are just grabbing takeout or lunch, you’ll be able to select those options without much effort. And yes, you should leave reviews for the spots you visit on the regular, as it really helps those businesses in the eye of Google.

// Google