Google Maps is unveiling several new features that will make navigating the often hectic holiday travel season smoother. While not specifically geared toward the holidays, the timing of these convenient upgrades is ideal. The improvements focus on two key areas – figuring out directions to your destination and customizing how you get there.
Easily Refine Transit Directions for Optimal Trips
Transit riders can now use filters to customize directions in Google Maps to best suit their needs and preferences. Options include optimizing routes based on fastest ETA, shortest trip length, least walking, transit type preference, and fewest transfers. For example, if you dislike winding bus routes, you can set maps to suggest train or subway routes first. Simply tap the options button in the top right when viewing transit directions to select preferred modes and route options. Google Maps will remember your choices so you won’t have to redo them every time. In addition, you can also read an article on- Google Maps Unveils Immersive View for Routes and Enhanced Search Features
Detailed Train Station Directions Added in 80 Cities
Google Maps is adding enhanced directions to train station entrances in 80 cities worldwide. This includes indicating which side of the street you should access the station from based on which direction your train is headed. Cities range from Boston to Singapore.
Collaborative Lists Allow Trip Planning and Voting
Google Maps now features collaborative lists to simplify trip planning. Users can share locations and vote on places they want to visit with hearts or thumbs down emojis. This streamlines creating an itinerary as a group. Additionally, you can also read about- Protect Your Privacy: How to Blur Your Home on Google Maps?
Respond to Reviews With Emoji Reactions
One last upgrade allows responding to business reviews using emoji reactions. Google Maps also added a customized emoji feature using AI and Emoji Kitchen. It will suggest mashups based on photo content and selected emojis. These updates roll out over the next few weeks on Android and iOS.
