Google Maps will make it easier to keep away from crowded mass transit in far more cities

Google is increasing the variety of cities the place Maps gives details about public transport crowding. The variety of cities lined is rising from round 200 at this time, to “over 10,000 transit agencies in 100 countries,” the corporate says. As properly as crowdedness, Google says Maps can also be being up to date to supply extra details about previous journey.

Google Maps’ crowdedness info initially launched pre-pandemic in 2019, however over the previous yr social distancing has made it extra necessary than ever. Crowdedness info is generated from a mix of historic location knowledge, in addition to self-reporting from Maps customers on particular person trains. Google says it anonymizes the situation historical past knowledge used.

As properly as increasing the crowdedness predictions to extra cities, Google can also be making them extra granular in New York and Sydney. In these cities customers will see how crowded particular person practice carriages are as an alternative of simply basic crowding on the transit line. The function works utilizing knowledge offered by transit businesses themselves, and Google says it plans to increase the aptitude to extra cities quickly.

Google can also be including a few new options to Maps’ Timeline part on Android, which is accessible by tapping your profile picture after which deciding on “Your Timeline.” A brand new “Insights” tab reveals tendencies in regards to the period of time and distance you’ve spent utilizing completely different transport strategies and the locations you’ve visited. There’s additionally a “Trips” tab that gathers collectively locations visited, together with the choice to export them as an inventory if you wish to move them on as journey suggestions.

Alternatively, should you don’t just like the reminder of how a lot knowledge Google Maps is able to amassing about you over time, you may flip this off (and lose entry to the brand new Timeline options) by disabling Location History in your cellphone.

Finally, Google can also be providing extra overview choices for eating places within the US, with new prompts to share details about meal pricing and whether or not you bought takeout and supply. The new overview choices can be found on each iOS and Android, and Google says they’ll ultimately be obtainable for companies past eating places.