Before October arrives, there is still time for a summer vacation. The next time you go on a road trip, let Google Maps be your guide. When you don’t have internet, the navigation app can assist you with everything from locating your hotel to making a last-minute dinner reservation.
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Google Maps can facilitate your travel in a number of ways. Below are a few of the app’s top travel-related features.
Here’s the ideal time to buy plane tickets for further travel tips. Additionally, these are the top airline and travel credit cards.
This post is a part of 12 Days of Tips, which aims to maximize your health, home, and technology over the holidays.
1. Navigate train terminals and airports with ease
Mobile Google Maps App
Use maps to navigate airports.
CNET/Clfford Colby
Google Maps provides a Directory option for all airports, shopping malls, and transit stations if you need to locate a store in a big mall or transportation hub fast. This might be useful if you’re rushing around the airport in search of a meal or a last-minute memento before your trip.
The tab will inform you of the floor a destination is on and its business hours. Restaurants, shops, bars, and parking lots are all open for inspection.
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03:06 2. Before visiting an attraction, find out how crowded it is.
Use the Busyness feature on Google Maps to assess how crowded a location is. You could already search for a place, such as a company, to see a real-time graphic of how busy it is. You can observe when whole map regions are congested with people thanks to a feature called Area Busyness.
Open the Google Maps app on your iPhone, Android device, or computer’s browser to utilize the function. Then, navigate the map to locate a broad location, such as downtown, a riverwalk, or a charming local village. Now, you won’t have to expressly search for a location to see how crowded it is since the busyness information will show up on the map automatically. When you click for further information, Google Maps may display “Busy Area” followed by “As busy as it gets” or “Not too busy.”
To check busy vs non-busy hours, you may also search for the place you’re looking for and scroll down.
3. Use Google Maps to see all of your bookings.
In addition to helping you plan your trip, Google Maps can rapidly display your bookings for hotels, flights, rental cars, and restaurants, saving you the trouble of sifting through your email for confirmation numbers and check-in timings.
All you need to do is type “my reservations” into the Google Maps search bar to get a list of all the appointments you have made. Maps retrieves this data from your Gmail emails. To see further reservation details, such as the date and location, you may also choose an item.
4. Reserve a table at a restaurant without phoning
It may be difficult to plan a dinner night out with a big party, particularly if you go at a busy period. You may use Google Maps to make reservations for lunch or supper. Here’s how.
1. To get a list of dining options, hit the Restaurants icon at the top of the map in Maps.
2. Pick a restaurant that appeals to you, and if it offers it, make a reservation or sign up for a waitlist in the window that appears (not all do).
Keep in mind that you may choose the least crowded location by using the bustle function described above. Additionally, keep in mind that some eateries that ban dine-in may nevertheless accept deliveries, curbside pickup, or outside sitting.
5. Use Google Maps when your mobile signal is weak.
Are you going somewhere far away where you may not have access to a cell network? Even when you’re not online, Google Maps can still provide you with instructions.
1. Look up the address where you need instructions in Maps before you go.
2. Open the menu at the bottom of the location window.
3. hit Download offline map after navigating straight through the tabs, and then hit Download once more in the resulting window. Maps will download a map of the region you have chosen to your phone.
Google Maps will now utilize the offline map to lead you in the event that your cellular connection is lost while you are using it to get directions in the region you downloaded. Keep in mind that Maps cannot provide real-time traffic information while you are offline.
6. Locate local EV charging stations
Google Maps can assist you in locating EV charging stations along your route, as well as the approximate wait periods for a charging port, whether you’re driving an EV for a trip, supper, or shopping. To see just the stations that are compatible with your EV, you may further refine your search by connection type, such as J1772, CCS (Combo 1 or 2), and Tesla. Keep in mind that you may use these similar instructions to look for petrol stations. (Here are some ways to reduce gas prices.)
1. Navigate through the tabs at the top of the screen in Maps, then choose More.
2. Choose Electric Vehicle Charging from the Services section after scrolling down.
3. Maps will show the number of charging stations in the area.
4. To add a charging station as a stop on your journey, tap on it.
This method may also be used to look for other locations, such as a coffee shop, along your trip.
7. Let friends and relatives know where you are.
When the group splits up and nobody can locate one another, is there anything more annoying than that? You can all get back together with the aid of Google Maps.
1. Select Location sharing by tapping your profile symbol in the upper right corner of Google Maps.
2. Select who you want to share your location with and for what duration by tapping Share location.
3. After you tap Share, Google Maps will communicate your location to all of the people you’ve chosen.
4. Tap the person’s symbol at the top of the window, then choose Request to see their location.
8. Developing, disseminating, and accessing curated lists
How can you ensure that your trip includes seeing everything? You can bookmark future locations and have them all accessible at a glance if you make a list in Google Maps.
Just choose the + New list option under the Saved tab. The list may be named and described by you. You may then browse straight through the tabs and hit the Save button to add a location on the map that you wish to see later to your new list. You may ask your fellow travelers to work together by sharing this list with them.
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