Science and Technology Desk: The jury is out on Google Maps to find any identified location from a mobile or computer. Almost everyone knows the use of this app to find location. But in addition to this function, there are other excellent uses that can be made with the map.
Google Maps will reach the destination by avoiding traffic jams: Searching for traffic jams: Google Maps has live traffic updates to inform about traffic jams. It has been in operation since 2007 in the developed world, but it was launched in Bangladesh two years ago.
To use it, you need to click on ‘Real Time Traffic’ from the map menu, go to the ‘Traffic’ option and switch from ‘Live Traffic’ to ‘Typical Traffic’. When the traffic option is turned on, you will see green, yellow, orange and red colors on the road on the map. If you see green color, you will understand that the road is not jammed now. If you see orange color it means medium jam and red color means heavy traffic jam.
Google Maps uses ‘crowd sourced data’ to report traffic congestion. That is, if the location service is turned on on the smartphone of the people who are driving on the road, then Google collects traffic data from them and creates indicators. Through this, Google calculates the number of cars on the road, how fast the cars are moving, and informs about the jam.
Google Maps is useful for finding parked cars: Forgot where you parked your car? Google map can help in this case too. How to find parked cars with its help? On your Android mobile tap on the blue colored location dot when you reach the destination. After that select ‘Save Parking’.
Google map will identify the location of the parked car. Some mobiles have ‘Add Details’ option. The information on which floor of the multi-storey parking is kept will also be saved. If you want, you can also add pictures there. You can find the car later by tapping on ‘Parking Location’ (for Android mobile) or ‘Saved Parking’ (for iPhone). You can remove it from the map by going to ‘Clear’ on iPhone or ‘More Info’ on Android and clicking ‘Clear’.
Show easy routes to multiple destinations: Drive out and visit multiple places, but go to work or a friend’s house? You can also get Google Maps as a useful friend there. First enter the name of the starting point in ‘Starting Point’. At that time also inform the place of destination. After that click on the 3 dots on the right side.
You can add multiple place names by clicking on the dots on the right. You can save multiple place names in it by drag and drop method where you have to visit before the final destination. If you don’t want to open Google Maps online, you can take advantage of it offline. In that case offline map download can come in handy for you.
Know new roads: You can easily recognize roads in new areas through Google Maps. You can find any place on your own by using Google Maps.
Local Guides: Google has millions of ‘Local Guides’. Local guides will remind you of Foursquare and it’s trying to gather a layer of information based on Google’s base map.
When you’re on Google Maps, go to My Contributions and you’ll be able to search for different locations in your area. By leaving a review, answering a few questions, and submitting a photo, you can contribute to this extra layer of data. This local knowledge helps the map learn things like the vibe of a cafe, whether a hotel has parking or a restaurant option. In return for contributions, users can earn rewards such as enhanced Google Drive savings.
Low-cost Lite mode: Google Lite offers the opportunity to use maps with less data. Where internet costs are very low. You can get the version by searching on Google by writing “Google map lite”.
Then a lightning button on the bottom right side of the screen will confirm that you are in light mode. Like Facebook has Facebook Lite, or Opera Mini, UC Mini, Google Map Lite is a simple tool for Google Maps.
Easy food search: Google Maps has launched a new feature to make the search process for nearby hotels and restaurants easier during the lockdown. Now, by opening the map, information about 25 services is available from additional categories including takeout, delivery, gas and grocery options.
Android and IOS mobile users can find out how far a hotel is from their home, whether it is open or not, what menu is available through this feature. The feature was first rolled out to users in the US. Then it gradually came to other countries. There is also in Bangladesh.
Although there was an option to find restaurants in advance on Google Maps, there was no shortcut feature. Now options are available without typing. The technology company has taken this decision to make people’s lives a little easier during the novel coronavirus.
How to find food: Open the map app and you will get ‘Takeout’ and ‘Delivery’ options. Select any one. It will come up with any restaurants in your area. You can directly order food from some restaurants through Google Maps. Some restaurants will also link you to third party suppliers.