Google Maps has just rolled out some new features to make holiday travel easier. The updates will be available in the next few weeks. If you are traveling on Thanksgiving, Google Maps suggests planning your journey before midday or after 4 p.m.
Google Maps is introducing new characteristics and providing counsel about when to travel during the holiday season in order to reduce stress and travel time, as stated in blog posts published this Wednesday. This advice is based on last year's Thanksgiving season data, thus providing you with a better idea of when to plan your road trip. These updates will start being available during the next few weeks, as mentioned in the company's blog post. More than 1 billion people use Google Maps monthly and Google has constantly been striving to improve the service to simplify traveling. These holiday tools are the second set of updates in the last month; at the end of October, the company disclosed several new and enhanced features, among which is Immersive View, which allows you to visit a city virtually.
Those travelling for Thanksgiving should aim to drive either Monday or Tuesday after 8 p.m. (all local time) in order to avoid the peak hours of 4 and 5 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday. Those wanting to drive on Thanksgiving itself should leave before noon or after 4 p.m. for the least amount of traffic. Meanwhile, those planning to do their Black Friday shopping should know that the least busy time to travel is before noon or after 7 p.m., with the most congested period occurring between 3 and 4 p.m. Lastly, for those travelling home over the weekend, the optimal time to depart is around 7 or 8 p.m. local time - while the worst stretch of the day is between 3 and 4 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. To learn more about the best times to make your grocery store and post office runs, check out Google Maps' blog post.
No longer will you need to stress about finding a place to meet up with a group of friends or family. Google Maps has implemented a new feature that allows you to share locations with people in your group and then express your opinion of it through an emoji like a heart or thumbs down. This feature is part of the existing list function that permits you to save locations. It's launch on iOS and Android devices will be rolled out in the next few weeks. Furthermore, Google Maps are now offering more discussion through its content review. Users can respond to a photo, video, review with an emoji and others can see their response. Google Maps states that the purpose of this is to "make a more informed decision" and it is available now.
Google Maps is going to enable a customized transit route experience for users. It will give them the option to include criteria, such as the length of the journey, the amount of walking and number of stops, and choose the best route. This facility will be available soon on the iOS and Android versions.
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