Google Maps Adds New Features to Deal With Holiday Rush

In preparation for the holiday season, Google has added some new features to Google Maps to make getting around busy areas a lot easier.

According to a post on Google's blog, The Keyword, the company recognizes this time of the year can be pretty stressful, so to alleviate that, these features aim to keep people informed while also maximizing time spent with friends and family. The additions include seeing where large crowds are gathering and finding stores in an area.

You can check out if a part of town is busy or not with the new Area Busyness feature. It shows live data to help you see where crowds are forming so you can either avoid that area or go straight to it if something like a fair is happening.

Tapping on an area in Area Busyness will show you how busy it gets throughout the day, along with what local businesses can be found there. The Directory tab is expanding to include detailed information on what types of stores are in a building and nearby car rental places, parking lots, and more.

And for each business, you will see what time it's open, what floor it's on, and reviews.

And Pickup with Google Maps now supports more grocery stores under the Kroger Family brand, like Ralph’s, Fry’s, and Mariano’s. With these inclusions, Pickup with Google Maps is now available in over 2,000 stores across 30 states.

These new features will be available on Google Maps for iOS and Android devices and are currently being rolled out in a new update.