Now that it’s not always safe to go out due to the pandemic, we need all the tools we can get to make good decisions about whether or not to go out or to go to a specific place. Google Maps is probably one of the best apps that you can use to determine your plans for the day or the week and now they’re adding more tools and features to help you make safe decisions and protect yourself from crowds and unnecessary stress.

Busyness information was a particularly helpful feature before when deciding whether to go to that restaurant. But now it has taken an even more important role in helping us understand how busy or crowded a place is before we even get outside of our house. Google has expanded information not include beaches, parks, grocery stores, gas stations, laundromat, pharmacies, and other essential places. Google will soon bring busyness information on the map itself so you don’t need to search for a particular place.

Another new thing that they’re bringing to Search and Maps is to make the health and safety information of a place of business front and center. You’ll see information like their minimum health standards and precautions, right under the operating hours information. The information comes from the businesses themselves but soon users will also be able to contribute information regarding this.

Google will soon bring the Live View feature to those devices that supported augmented reality. When you’re walking around a place and you see a new restaurant or botique, you can turn on your camera and see all the information about it like business hours, star rating, health and safety information if available, and other things you may need to know about it before deciding to check it out.

Google says that the pandemic has definitely changed how we interact with the world and so they are bringing tools to help you make decisions that “require more thought and consideration”. The features will be rolling out in the coming months so check your Google Map to see if the changes are there already.

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