The American tech giant, Google is rolling out a new feature within its Maps which will alert users about any crowded areas in your hometown or exploring a new city.
The new tool called ‘Area Busyness,’ a feature that combines live busyness trends is designed to help users avoid crowds and instantly spot places with less footfall. Users will be able to decide on a preferred less crowded location by just tapping on a neighborhood and knowing how busy it is at different times of day, along with the restaurants, shops and recreational places within it.
The busyness trends are claimed to be based on the aggregated and anonymized location history data that Google collects from people who have opted for it from their Google Account.
Since 2016, Google Maps has included information on Busyness. Last year, it introduced indicators including “Usually as busy as it gets” and “Usually not too busy” under location names.
However, Google has now expanded its Busyness trends efforts by starting to highlight busy areas directly on the virtual maps. The feature also comes amid the emergence of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, which is restricting people to stay indoors and avoid visiting crowded places.
Google also announced that it is expanding the Directory tab globally on Android and iOS for all airports, malls and transit stations around the world, to help people find their way around large buildings fast. Now, with this data available, people can quickly see what types of stores are in a building, airport lounges, car rentals, parking lots and more.
