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15 Google Maps Tips & Tricks You Must Know

I’m going to share with you 15 google maps tips & tricks you must know in 2022 like using offline maps, measuring distance & area, adding multiple stops, timeline, vehicle icons, time traveling with street view, and much more!

Tip #1 - Offline Maps

You can download offline maps. This way when you don't have internet, or maybe if you want to save on data, you can use offline maps.

Simply click on your profile picture, then click on offline maps, then Select your own map, and you can zoom in and out and highlight the area that you want to make available offline.

When you're ready click on download and use it when you're offline.

Tip #2 - Measure Distance & Area

Tip number 2 is you can measure distance & area.

If we're using a computer we can right-click and then select Measure Distance.

Next, we select another location and we're gonna have the distance here.

If we're using the app we can hold a location and select Measure Distance then we can drag the map and points.

You can also calculate the area. We can select the Measure Distance again. Then click on each corner of the field and once we connect all of the points, we can see the total area which is 260 square meters.

Tip #3 - One Finger Zoom

Tip number 3 is you can zoom in and out with just one finger.

Usually, to zoom in and out, people use 2 fingers but you can also double tap on the screen with one finger and just slide your finger up or down to zoom in and out.

Tip #4 - Remember Parking Spot

Tip number 4 is you can have Google Maps to remember your parking location.

Simply tap on the blue circle that shows where your location is and then select 'Set as parking location' to save your spot.

Once you save, you're gonna have a yellow pin that shows where your car is and once you get back to your car you can click on the yellow pin and select 'Clear' to clear it out.

Tip #5 - Avoid Tolls, Highways & Ferries

Tip number 5 is you can customize your navigation settings to avoid tolls, highways & ferries.

To do this click on your profile picture then go to your settings. Select Navigations and here you're gonna have different route options. You can avoid highways, tolls, and ferries, and finally, you can prefer fuel-efficient routes.

Tip #6 - Save Locations

Tip number 6 is you can save locations on google maps.

So let's say I wanna go to Tulum Mexico in a few weeks and I’ve always wanted to visit the Chichen Itza pyramid.

There are a lot of mysteries about these pyramids for example if you clap in front of the steps, the sound of your clap goes all the way up to the chamber at the top of this pyramid and the echo of your clap that comes out from that chamber is going to be the sound of a bird.

Here I'll click on Save and select 'Want to go'.

Now I can go to the 'Saved' menu and when I click on 'Want to go' here I can see and manage my saved locations.

Tip #7 - Reminder To Leave On Time

Tip number 7 is you can always set reminders to leave on time.

So let's say I wanna go to the Grouse Mountain tomorrow morning and they open at 9 am which is when I wanna arrive.

If we select 'Directions', instead of departing right now we can scroll all the way to the bottom and there is the option to 'Remind you to leave on time.

We can have it remind us to depart at a certain time or we could set it to arrive by a certain time.

I'm going to select Arrive by and then set it to 9 am.

As you can see it says Google maps will remind you to leave at 8:00 am to arrive at 9 am considering the traffic and other factors.

Tip #8 - Change Your Vehicle Icon

Tip number 8 is you can change your vehicle icon.

In order to do that you’ll need to select a location and click on direction and start.

Once you have the blue arrow you can click on it and you're gonna have 3 different options:

Red, Green, and yellow cars.

Tip #9 - Add Multiple Stops

Tip number 9 is to add multiple stops.

For example, let's say I wanna go to North Vancouver but I have to go to a gas station first.

I can click on the 3 dots at the top right corner and select 'Add Stop'.

Once we add another stop we can hold the hamburger menu and drag them up or down to reorder them.

Tip #10 - See Where You've Been On Google Maps Timeline

Tip number 10 is you can see where you’ve been on google maps with your location history.

In order to use this feature, you have to make sure to turn on your location history tracking.

So you can go to the menu on your laptop or go to your profile on mobile and then select your timeline.

Here we have an earth map with red dots showing all the different places I've been.

Your Timeline is private, so only you can find it and you don’t have to worry about privacy issues but if you don’t feel comfortable you always have the option to turn off your location history.

Tip #11 - Time Travel With Street View in Google Maps

Tip number 11 is you can use google maps street view and time travel.

If you’re using your phone you can go to the layer icon at the top right corner and select Street View. If you're using a computer you can click on the yellow person icon at the bottom right corner and all available street views will be in blue highlights.

Simply drag and drop the person at the spot you want and you're gonna have the most current 360-degree picture of this location.

On the top left corner we're gonna have the date this photo was taken and if we click on that, we can go back in time and access past photos and if you spend a few minutes and go back to 2009 and 2010 you’ll be surprised how many parks and parking lots turned into condo buildings.

Tip #12 - Modify Routes with Drag & Drop

Tip number 12 is you can modify your routes by dragging and dropping.

For example, here I'm going to Burnaby from Vancouver and I have my route already set up.

As you can see I'll drag my route and google maps is going to modify my route to go through the point we just selected. If you want to undo this, you can simply double click on that point and it's gonna go back to the original version.

Tip #13 - Live Traffic

Tip number 13 is you can see the live traffic and what traffic looks like at different times of the day or week.

whether you use the computer or the app you can go to the Layers and change map details from default to the traffic layer.

As you can see here is the life traffic right now but we can also change this and check the traffic on different weekdays or weekends or different times during the day.

For example, if I wanna know what traffic typically looks like on Wednesday mornings, I can select the date and time and see the traffic congestion map.

Tip #14 - Cheap Flights

Tip number 14 is you can use google maps to find cheap flight tickets for different destinations simply by dragging and dropping.

So let's say I want to go from Vancouver to California. We can move our destination to different locations on the map and it's going to update what the pricing looks like. And here's a bonus tip. You can go to Google flights by clicking See Results and opening the Price Graph to find the cheapest flight.

Tip #15 - Virtual Museums Tours

Tip number 15 and the final tip is you can visit the best museums in the world with Google Maps street view.

Museums that are a part of the Google Arts & Culture program, upload their entire museum on Google Street View to make people interested in their collection.

Some of the most popular museums available on Google Street View are The British Museum in London, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

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