The official blog for Google Maps
Get ahead this Thanksgiving with Google Maps
November 17, 2015
It’s that time of year again. Next week, tens of millions of us will hit the roads, consume millions of pounds of turkey, and then spend billions on Black Friday deals. Google Maps looked at Thanksgiving trends from the last three years to uncover the most useful information to make your holiday plans go a little bit easier. Whether you’re traveling, doing some last-minute grocery shopping, or Black Friday deal-dashing, here’s our day-by-day guide to braving the holiday crowds.
Tuesday:
No travel day leading up to the holiday is going to be a breeze, but if you can, start driving Tuesday rather than Wednesday. Yes, it’s still the second-worst travel day of the week, but according to Google Maps searches, for the last three years Wednesday has been the worst travel day—with the exceptions of Boston (Tuesday), and Honolulu, Providence and San Francisco (all Saturday).
Wednesday:
Americans are pretty predictable when it comes to the holidays: for the third year in a row, “ham shop” was the #1 trending destination search on Google Maps the day before Thanksgiving. Whether you’re running out to a ham shop, pie shop (#2), or liquor store (#3), make sure you don’t head all the way there just to find it closed. This year Google Maps and Google Search have added
holiday hours
, so when you search for a business, you’ll see its updated holiday schedule.
Thanksgiving Day:
Maybe folks were put off by the trauma of last year’s burnt turkey? Nationwide, “buffet restaurants” were the #1 trending Google Maps term on Thanksgiving Day. But locally, folks were heading in other directions. In Houston, “doughnut shops” were trending on Thanksgiving. It was “bars” in Chicago— maybe people needed a break from their families. And Miami residents were interested in looking their holiday best—”beauty salons” were among the trending searches by the South Beach crowd.
Black Friday:
The top Black Friday Google Maps trends nationwide were predictably of the “electronics store” and “outlet mall” variety—with “Christmas tree farms” not far behind as people looked ahead. Digging into local trends, however, things get more surprising. New Yorkers were on the hunt for tattoo shops, among other things, Angelenos for hookah bars, and people in Detroit spent their Black Friday on the lookout for hamburgers. Whether you’re in the market for a Christmas tree tat or shopping deals, here’s a tip: use the
Explore
feature on Google Maps to discover the stores, restaurants and local entertainment around you.
The weekend:
Traffic patterns show that you’re better off driving home from a long weekend on Sunday rather than Saturday—traffic can be up to 40% worse on Saturday. And Google Maps will be with you all the way home, helping you check out
gas prices and add detours
to your route, without having to exit out of navigation.
Posted by Pierre Petronin, Google Maps
Get your favorite places on the map with Local Guides
November 13, 2015
Picking the right place to go can be tough—whether you’re looking for a night out with friends, a quiet weekend away with family, or just a neighborhood coffee shop. To help make these decisions easier, we’re expanding the
Local Guides
program in Google Maps, which gives you the chance to share your discoveries directly to the map, making it more useful for everyone.
Local Guides is a global community that helps you explore the world while earning perks. Once you
sign up
, every place you contribute to in Google Maps earns you points towards unlocking something new—from early access to new products to exclusive contests and events, bonus Drive storage, and more.
You can earn points and level up by writing reviews, uploading photos, adding new places, fixing outdated information, and answering simple questions. Each contribution type is worth one point, so you can earn up to five points per place.
The more you contribute as a Local Guide, the more benefits you’ll enjoy. Here’s an overview of what you’ll unlock at each level:
Level 1 (0 - 4 points)
: Enter exclusive contests (think new Google devices!) in select countries.
Level 2 (5 - 49 points)
: Get early access to new Google products and features.
Level 3 (50 - 199 points)
: Show up in the Google Maps app with your official Local Guides badge.
Level 4 (200 - 499 points)
: Receive a free 1 TB upgrade of your Drive storage, allowing you to keep all the stories, photos, and videos from your travels in one safe place.
Level 5 (500+ points)
: The very top Local Guides will become eligible to apply to attend our inaugural summit in 2016, where you’ll be able to meet other top Guides from around the world, explore the Google campus, and get the latest info about Google Maps. Look out for details early next year.
Once you
sign-up
, download the latest Google Maps update on
Android
and
iPhone
to follow your progress on the new Contributions tab. Your total points, level, and to-do list—suggestions for places to contribute to—conveniently appear together in one place. And when you share photos, you'll now see view counts, giving you an idea of how many people your image may have helped. To learn more about how to contribute and unlock benefits, visit our
website
or
Help Center
.
Posted by Mara Chomsky, Local Guides Community Management Lead
Navigate and search the real world … online or off
November 10, 2015
Roughly 60 percent of the world is without Internet today, and even where online access is available, it can still be spotty. That means that quick and easy access to information is still not possible for a majority of the population. This is a huge problem, especially as people attempt to navigate and explore the world around them, so Google Maps is taking steps to help people across the globe find directions and get where they’re going, even when they don’t have an Internet connection.
Now you can download an area of the world to your phone, and the next time you find there’s no connectivity—whether it’s a country road or an underground parking garage—Google Maps will continue to work seamlessly. Whereas before you could simply view an area of the map offline, now you can get turn-by-turn driving directions, search for specific destinations, and find useful information about places, like hours of operation, contact information or ratings.
You can download an area by searching for a city, county or country, for instance, and tapping "Download" on the resulting place sheet, or by going to "Offline Areas" in the Google Maps menu and tapping on the “+” button. Once downloaded, Google Maps will move into offline mode automatically when it recognizes you’re in a location with spotty service or no connectivity at all. When a connection is found, it will switch back online so you can easily access the full version of Maps, including live traffic conditions for your current route. By default, we’ll only download areas to your device when you are on a Wi-Fi connection to prevent large data fees.
We first
previewed
these new capabilities during Google I/O in May, and today we’re gradually rolling out the first set of these improvements with the latest version of Google Maps on Android (coming soon to iOS). Over time, we’ll be introducing even more offline features to help you find your way—even when you can’t find a connection.
Posted by Amanda Bishop, Product Manager, Google Maps
‘Tis the season: Google brings holiday hours to Maps and Search
November 6, 2015
Ever trekked all the way to your favorite restaurant just to realize it’s closed for the holidays? Well, we have. Now Google Maps and Google Search will help you avoid that common holiday mistake. We've added holiday hours to Maps and Search, so when you search for a business and a major holiday is within the next seven days, you’ll see whether the business has a special holiday schedule. Not only will you avoid showing up to find the doors locked, but you’ll save time by not having to call the business or check the website for hours.
If you want to find out what’s open as the holiday draws close, just search for a place and if the holiday hours are listed, you’ll see them.
If you search for a business and the holiday hours aren’t listed, you’ll see a warning message alerting you that the actual hours may be different because of the holiday.
And if you want to find a nearby open coffee shop, restaurant or bakery, just use the “Open Now” filter and we’ll show you places that are open on these days.
We’ve got you covered pretty much everywhere you search and anywhere you go. Because holiday hours and warnings are available globally, if you happen to be celebrating
Boxing Day in the UK
or
New Year’s Eve in Sweden
, you’ll see info specific to the country you’re in. How’s that for traveling like a local?
Posted by Jonathan Sidi, Product Manager, Google Maps & Local Search
Take a walk on the wild side with Street View in New Zealand
November 4, 2015
From the
lush waterfalls
of the Milford Track to the
alpine peaks
of the Kepler Track, you can now explore some of the most stunning parts of New Zealand’s wilderness with the launch of seven of the world-renowned ‘
Great Walks
’ on Google Street View. Known for the beauty of their remote multi-day treks, the Great Walks are a favourite destination for hikers around the world, and are now available in 360-degree panoramic imagery right from your smartphone or computer, with Google Maps.
Collected with help from our friends at New Zealand’s Department of Conservation using the
Google Trekker
, this new imagery shows off New Zealand’s natural beauty while inspiring hikers around the world to plan a trip.
Our intrepid trekker collector Matt checks the lenses of the Google Trekker at Lake Te Anau on the Kepler Track
Take in the view of Lake Waikaremoana from
Panekire Bluff
, look down at the Hollyford Valley from
Conical Hill
, or check out the
tallest waterfall in New Zealand
— all without breaking a sweat.
Panekire Bluff
looks over Lake Waikaremoana which translates to ‘sea of rippling waters’ in
te reo
.
Conical Hill
on the Routeburn Track is quite a hike at 1,515 meters. (It’s easier to get to from your phone).
Dropping 580 meters from Lake Quill, the
Sutherland Falls
on the Milford Track are bigger than Eiffel Tower.
Emerging from the
Enchanted Forest
on the Heaphy Track you might not see hobbits, but if you’re very lucky you can sometimes spot
baby seals
. They’re even more common at
Separation Point
which is a fur seal breeding ground.
Wander through an
Enchanted Forest
on the Heaphy Track. (Eat your heart out, Peter Jackson).
Say hi to
baby seals
on the Heaphy Track
Even without seals,
Separation Point
knows how to put on a good show.
If you’re enjoying the coast, why not head south to the
Golden Beaches
on Stewart Island? Once you’ve explored that, you can head north again to the Abel Tasman Track and cross
The Falls River suspension bridge
or the
Swing Bridge
over the Kohaihai River.
An impressive 47-meter long suspension bridge takes you over
Falls River
It’s just a hop, step and a
swing bridge
over the Kohaihai River on the Abel Tasman Track
New Zealand’s Great Walks have long been on the bucket list of keen outdoors people from all around the world. We hope by bringing the
Milford
,
Kepler
,
Abel Tasman
,
Lake Waikaremoana
,
Heaphy
,
Routeburn
and
Rakiura
/
Stewart Island
tracks to Street View, these images will not only help people who are about to trek them prepare, but give anyone who wants to virtually roam the beauty of the Great Walks an opportunity to do so. And you can view more Street View collections from around New Zealand here.
Posted by Cynthia Wei, Program Manager, Google Street View
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