Google Maps Tips You Need to Know for Summer 2024

These Google Maps tips can help ease the stress of traveling during the summer madness.

Introduction

Google Maps can help you navigate through airports and train stations during busy seasons.

For many, summer is a time for vacations, which often means beach trips or other travel adventures. If you’re planning to travel to a popular summer destination, we recommend using Google Maps to help relieve some of the stress that comes with traveling.

While Google Maps can’t prevent a traffic jam, there are a variety of ways it can help to make the journey easier, from quickly getting around the airport to using the Maps app offline. Check out some of the app’s best features for summer travelers below.

For more travel advice, here’s the best time to shop for airline tickets. Also, here are the best travel credit cards and best airline credit cards.

1. Easily Navigate Through Airports and Train Stations

Google Maps can help you get around airports with ease.

If you need to quickly find a store in a large mall or transit center, Google Maps has a Directory tab for all airports, malls, and transit stations. This can help when you’re running around the airport trying to find a place to eat or grabbing a last-minute souvenir before catching your flight.

The tab will tell you a destination’s business hours and what floor it’s on. You can look through restaurants, stores, lounges, and parking lots.

2. Find Out How Busy an Attraction Is Before Going

To see how busy a spot is, check out Google Maps’ Busyness tool. You could search for a location, like a business, to see a chart that shows how crowded it is in real-time. The Area Busyness feature lets you see when entire map areas are congested with people.

To use the feature, open the Google Maps app on your Android or iPhone (or your computer’s browser) and move around the map to find a general area, like downtown, a riverwalk, or a quaint nearby town. The busyness information will now automatically appear on the map. Google Maps may say something like “Busy Area” and when you click for more details, it could say, for example, “As busy as it gets” or “Not too busy.”

However, you can also search the location you’re after and scroll down to see busy times versus non-busy times.

3. See All Your Reservations in Google Maps

Google Maps can chart your travels, but it can also quickly show you your flight, hotel, car rental, and restaurant reservations, saving you the hassle of searching through your email for check-in times and confirmation numbers.

To see your upcoming reservations, all you have to do is search for “my reservations” in the Google Maps search box to see a list of what you’ve booked. Maps pulls this information from your emails in Gmail. You can also select an item to see more about the reservation, including date and location.

4. Make a Restaurant Reservation Without Calling

Planning a dinner night out with a large group can be a hassle, especially when you go at a busy time. Google Maps can help you book a lunch or dinner reservation. Here’s how:

1. In Maps, tap the Restaurants button at the top of the map to see a list of places to eat.
2. Select a restaurant that looks good, and in the window that pops up, reserve a table or join a waitlist, if it gives you that option (not all do).

Remember, you can use the busyness feature mentioned above to pick the least crowded place. Also, note that some restaurants that are closed to dine-in may still allow delivery, curbside pickup, or outdoor seating.

5. Use Google Maps When You Don’t Have Cell Signal

Heading someplace remote where you may not have a mobile network connection? Google Maps can still give you directions when you’re offline.

1. Before you head out, search in Maps for the location where you’ll want directions.
2. In the location’s window, pull up the menu at the bottom.
3. Scroll right through the tabs and tap Download offline map, and then in the next window tap Download again. Maps will download a map to your phone for the area you selected.

Now, as you use Google Maps for directions in the area you downloaded a map for, when you lose your cellular connection Maps will switch to the offline map to guide you. Note that because you’re offline, Maps won’t be able to offer real-time traffic info.

6. Find EV Charging Stations Nearby

If you’re taking your electric vehicle out for shopping, dinner, or a vacation, Google Maps can help you find EV charging stations on your route, along with estimated wait times for a charging port. You can also filter your search by connector type — such as J1772, CCS (Combo 1 or 2), and Tesla — to see just the stations that are compatible with your EV. Note you can also search for gas stations by following these same directions.

1. In Maps, scroll through the tabs on the top of the screen and tap More.
2. Scroll down to the Services section and select Electric vehicle charging.
3. Maps will display nearby charging stations and how many are available.
4. Tap a charging station on the map to have Maps add it as a stop on your trip.

You can also use this trick to search for other places along your route, like a coffee shop.

7. Share Your Location with Friends and Family

Is anything more frustrating during a group activity than when the group gets split up and no one can find each other? Google Maps can help bring you all back together.

1. In Google Maps, tap your profile icon in the top right corner and tap Location sharing.
2. Tap Share location, and select who you want to share your location with and for how long you want to share it.
3. Tap Share, and Google Maps will send your location to everyone you’ve selected.
4. If you want to see someone else’s location, tap that person’s icon at the top of the window and then tap Request.

For more, check out these airports that are no longer requiring TSA PreCheck passengers to show ID and the new self-service screening pods coming to some airports soon.