Successes of 2022: Google Maps helped me get out and discover extra

I had the privilege of utilizing plenty of unbelievable new telephones in 2022, filled with the newest {hardware} and able to spectacular efficiency. But there’s one app I turned to time and again once I was utilizing every of these gadgets, and it’s removed from new or cutting-edge: Google Maps. 

As in-person occasions (each skilled and private) resumed over the course of the yr, I discovered myself with much more alternatives to get out of the home. From navigating unfamiliar transit techniques to discovering toddler-friendly playgrounds, Google Maps was the app I opened up when it was time to go someplace. But even past that, Google Maps has turn into greater than a “get me from point A to point B” service. It’s turn into a sort of every part app for me, and I’ve taken full benefit of its standard — and fewer standard — options over the previous yr.

In 2022, I used Google Maps a ton once I was touring — a fairly typical use case for the app. I acquired strolling instructions, discovered the best BART line to get to SFO, and appeared for espresso outlets wherever I used to be — so many espresso outlets. I even have an iOS lock display screen widget configured to search for close by espresso outlets so I can discover espresso with as little friction as potential.

The app has additionally turn out to be useful in additional uncommon conditions. When I missed a activate a current hike outdoors of Seattle and realized I used to be wandering up a dry creek mattress fairly than a path, I used Google Maps and my cellphone’s GPS to determine which approach I used to be speculated to be going. I wouldn’t rely on utilizing it that approach additional off the grid, nevertheless it got here in helpful in a pinch.

I additionally use it to go off the crushed path nearer to residence. I take footage with plenty of completely different cellphone cameras as a part of my testing, so I’m at all times wanting round for brand spanking new, fascinating locations to shoot. I turned to Google Maps once I had exhausted all of my ordinary places, and that’s how I discovered a greenway in Seattle’s SoDo neighborhood operating alongside the sunshine rail line with views of the murals within the space. Even in an space I do know fairly effectively, Maps helps me uncover new-to-me spots.

Google Maps can also be sort of an archive. If I’m making an attempt to recollect the identify of the restaurant I visited years in the past in one other metropolis, chances are high it’s in my bookmarks. It’s additionally turn into a de facto tackle e-book. When I’m sending a bundle to my sister, I don’t search for her tackle in my cellphone’s contacts — I sort her identify into Google Maps’ search bar and it pops proper up.

Sometimes I open up Google Maps with none particular agenda in any respect. I’d scroll round a specific neighborhood I’m inquisitive about. Or I’ll use Street View to get an concept of what it’s like strolling by way of the streets of Reykjavik or discover out what eating places are in the northernmost city in the United States. 

Are there issues about Google Maps that annoy me? Yes. Sometimes I’ll have the map centered on a specific neighborhood and seek for “breweries,” and it’ll zoom out to indicate me each brewery within the higher Seattle space. And I’ve spent years begging for a navigation possibility to stay to the best route fairly than take me on a collection of difficult turns to shave 30 seconds off my arrival time. I ought to be far more frightened than I’m about all the information Google has on me, too, once I chart my each transfer utilizing its app.

For higher or worse, Google Maps has turn into as indispensable to me as electronic mail or Slack — regardless of which cellphone I occur to be utilizing on the time. It helps me discover my very own metropolis simply as a lot as to get round unfamiliar ones. It’s the app that helped me navigate life in 2022, each near residence and much away, and I do know I’ll be utilizing it to plan my strikes by way of the subsequent yr, too.