- Keep an eye out for these four new features in Google Maps
- They cover exploring places, charging electric cars and reviews
- Some Google Maps holiday trend data has also been shared
The holiday season is always a busy time for shopping and travel, and Google wants to help: it’s adding four new features to Google Maps, covering places to go, electric car charging and a way for you to give back to the places you visit.
First of all, what Google calls “insider tips” is built with Google Gemini. The feature works like a local guide – or rather an AI that has scraped comments from local guides – to give you detailed information about a place that goes beyond the official list.
Some examples Google gives are the best ways to book reservations, what the dress code might be, where to park and any secret items that might be on the menu – all delivered in Google Maps to you through Gemini. You’ll find these tips on place cards and they’re now showing up for US users on Android and iOS.
The trusty Explore tab in Google Maps is also being updated with “trending and popular restaurants, activities and attractions near you,” sourced from sources like OpenTable and Lonely Planet. The idea is that you can get some useful tips on where to visit next, anytime, and this is launching globally this month for Android and iOS.
EV charging and review
Our third new feature is the ability to search for “EV chargers” in Google Maps and get AI-powered predictions about how busy they’ll be when you get there, based on “historical and real-time” charger data. In theory, this should mean you don’t spend ages getting to a charger only to find long queues there.
This builds on several EV improvements we’ve seen in Google Maps over the past months and years, and improves on the current system that only shows you if a charger is currently free. Google says this will start rolling out to Android Auto and cars with Google built in worldwide from next week.
Finally, you can now choose a separate nickname and picture for your reviews on Google Maps – so if you want to give a five-star review somewhere, you don’t have to use your real name. This goes live this month globally on Android, iOS and the web.
In addition, Google has also published some holiday data trends for Google Maps: these trends give you the busiest times to travel, shop and visit the post office, so you can do your best to avoid the busiest crowds.
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