Google Maps has gotten its fair share of upgrades in recent months, including the integration of a Gemini-powered conversational feature called Ask Maps.
Since its addition to the platform in March, Ask Maps has proven to be a nifty feature that lets users make a bevy of requests. Asking for directions to a place to charge your dying phone, looking for directions to a public tennis court that’s lit up at night and planning to hit up recommended hot spots during a trip are just some of the instances where vocal prompts push Ask Maps to be your best digital guide.
As we all know, Google never rests on its laurels when it comes to its apps. And now, a massive update to Google Maps’ Ask Maps feature pushes it to perform more complex tasks. And not only are those features now available on the app in the US, but they’ll also be coming to Australia, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, and Mexico, along with over 150 countries and territories in English.
With this newly released Ask Maps update in mind, here are seven prompts you can try out to take advantage of it and push Google Maps’ AI integration to its full potential.
Ask Maps is even smarter and ready to fulfill your more complex tasks
Google Maps’ Ask Maps tool is now capable of fulfilling the sort of complex tasks that require a few extra steps to carry out.
Now it has no problem listening to you or reading what you type out when you’re ready to order takeout and find new places to eat along your route. It can even produce more personalized responses by remembering your saved places and specific dietary needs when searching for the next restaurant you might consider ordering from. This food ordering feature is rolling out now—it lets you order your next meal through partners such as Toast and Square, with Uber Eats set to get added to that group in the future.
Besides Ask Maps’ new food ordering features, it can also help you find the latest information about hotels by comparing real-time prices and checking room availability. Plus, you can tap into this AI-powered feature to ask for ideas on events that you should attend nearby. Not only will Ask Maps suggest several events worth checking out in your vicinity, but it will also include links to tickets.
Now that Personal Intelligence has become an essential part of Google Maps, you can safely connect Ask Maps to your Gmail account. Ask Maps makes great use of this new integration by using the information inside your inbox about upcoming flight, hotel or dinner reservations to give you relevant recommendations about how you should spend your time near your upcoming location. By turning the history settings on in Google Maps, Ask Maps has an easier time bringing up past conversations. That way, you can ask it to remind you of past chats so it can pull up past recreational ideas for you to choose from.
Real-time transition information, plus user-created text, conversational & photo edits that can be provided & accessed from Ask Maps’ Contribute tab also come along with Ask Maps latest update.
If you’re looking to see just how much more serviceable Ask Maps’ new features are, feel free to try out any of the prompts listed below:
- Order [name of food] for me to pick up on my way home.
- Find a highly-rated vegan place along my route to work and order a breakfast burrito for pickup.
- Find modern art museums near me that are open past [time] today.
- Are there any comedy shows happening near my location tonight with tickets still available?
- Give me ideas on how to spend a few hours near the hotel before my flight tomorrow.
- Find a great spot for coffee between my current location and my dinner reservation tonight.
- Remind me: what activities did you suggest for my trip to [location]?
Bottom line
Walking around and driving around with Google Maps’ Ask Maps feature at the ready is an even more essential use of GPS and AI. And with the debut of a live transit widget, more personalized answers to user requests, stronger memory, food ordering, hotel/event discovery and user contributions, Google’s nifty location tool is even more crucial for your traveling needs.
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