Say you’re on the way to a new restaurant that you’ve never been to before and you’re not familiar with the way, so you use Google Maps to help navigate yourself there, only to find that upon arrival they are closed because either it’s late or today is their day off. It can be highly inconvenient and frustrating, but Google Maps wants to change that.
In a recent update to the Google Maps app, it seems that the app will now warn users if the place they are going to is closed or will be closed upon their arrival, as you can see in the screenshot above. Because Google Maps is able to calculate roughly how long it will take you to get there, it can factor the travel time in so combine that with the store’s opening hours, the app will now know if you should make the trip.
However the warning can be dismissed and you can continue navigating your way there if that’s what you want, although we suppose sometimes places could be opened past regular hours for a special/private function, and so on. It is an admittedly handy tool that leverages the information that Google has on file for various stores and outlets around the world.
The update has also introduced the ability to search for any car rental reservations you might have made by typing “my events”, along with the usual host of bug fixes and whatnot. To get the latest version of the app, head on over to the Google Play Store for the download.
Filed in . Read more about Apps, Google and Google Maps.