Skip to content
Menu
Travel Tales from India and Abroad
Travel Tales from India and Abroad
journey-google-maps

Cool Discoveries with Google Maps

Posted on May 30, 2016February 14, 2022

I have said this before and I am saying it again, I can get lost in a telephone booth if it has two exits! Yet I love to travel. I grew up in the time of paper maps and they were like the toughest puzzle to me! Then came smart phones but I resisted them for long. Eventually I got on to smart phones and Google Maps. Life became a bit easier. But even with Google Maps I have often walked to the other direction realizing it only when my location moved away further from the dots!

So when I got an invite from Google Maps to travel with them from Chandigarh to Kasauli I was happy to go on the trip! And what a voyage it was,  about discovering Google Maps.

But Where are We staying?

A few days before the trip I asked the Google PR team, “So where are we staying in Chandigarh?” I got a reply that I would have to discover the hotel via Google Maps! Now that left my family and me a little nervous but then fellow blogger Nidhi Joshi was also on the same trip! If we got lost, both of us would!

Thankfully once we landed at the Chandigarh Airport the Google Team greeted us! They gave us the location on the map which was JW Marriott Chandigarh! They gave us separate cars too, so that each one of us would interact with the map in our own way! That is how the fun and a very useful journey started!

Sanket Gupta, Program Manager at Google took us through the maps. I can follow that pattern here but I will go my own way. All of us know how to navigate from point A to Point B using Google Maps. But there is much more to the maps than it!

Click on the Left Top of your Map to Access Your Tabs

google-maps-panel
There is so much more to Google Maps than Just Going from Point A to B

Before sitting with Sanket, I was not even aware there was such a tab available for me to explore. Just by looking at the tab you can see there is much more to Google Maps! I will not be able to discuss everything from here but I will pick up the things that I found extremely useful for me, i.e. someone who has no sense of direction. But even before that, we need to know something called Google Maps Offline!

Google Maps Offline

google-maps-offline
Download Maps Offline

Select the offline tab from the drop down, that I have shown in the first screen shot. It will let you download a map and save it to your phone. Next time when you don’t have an internet access due to bad connectivity or any other reason you can still use the Google Maps to find your way! No longer I am going to suffer poor connections that I get as soon as I exit the Metro Station at Rajiv Chowk!

A word of caution here though. Only driving directions work in the offline mode. Walking and public transport directions will not work!

Use Google Maps to Find a Metro Route

metro-route-google-maps
Find a Metro Route Using Google Maps!

I wonder why I never noticed it on my own! I always tweeted asking people for the nearest metro station next to a place! You can find that right on the Google Maps. Not only Metro Route but you can find a bus route, walking route or cycling route too! Do you feel the route showed above is not correct? Or that anything on the map is not correct? Suggest an edit to the team!

Suggest an Edit to Google Maps

suggest-an-edit-google-maps
Suggest an Edit to Google Maps

You feel something is not up to the mark with the maps? Anyone with a logged in account can suggest an edit to the Google Maps! When you find a place on the map, you need to tap on the bottom screen to get an expanded menu like the one in the picture above. Then use the suggest an edit link to the team. Every edit is reviewed and then approved. And if your review is approved you earn a point and that leads me to the next concept- become a local guide with Google Maps!

Become a Local Guide with Google Maps

local-guide-google-maps
Become a Local Guide with Google Maps

When I started the trip from Chandigarh I had 1 point on the contributions board, I am already at Level 3 now! However I am desperately aiming at Level 4 which is 200+ points as it gives me enormous space for free on Google drive. (Update- I reached level 4 on local guides and got 1TB free space for two years on Google Drive. Yes it is one terabyte. I can upload all I want for two years and keep it. Won’t be able to upload more after two years!) You can start contributing too. Check out the page for how one can accumulate points on Local guides and what are the associated benefits. You can accumulate points by reviewing a place, adding a photo etc. At the moment I am having a gala time with the contributions feature! They take some time to approve photos but the review go online instantly!

Add Pit Stops to Your Journey

add-pit-stop

Now in the navigation mode you can search along the route for petrol pumps, restaurants etc. You can search by tapping on the search icon on the top right hand corner. Then when you find something where you would like to add, tap on it and add it as a pit stop. You can navigate to your stop and then continue to your destination!

Book a Taxi

book-taxi-google-maps
Book a Taxi

You can book a taxi right from your Google Maps. Instead of the car icon, choose the taxi icon to see the options. For this to work you should have taxi apps on your phone. I only have Ola on my phone hence it is showing Ola only. If you have both Ola and Uber it will show both the options!

Google Translate 

google-translate

To me Google Translate feels like magic. To make it work offline you would need to download the language packs you wish to use. For example if you are going to Germany and wish to translate to English download both the packs. You also need to download the Translate App. Now point your app in picture mode to anything written in German and you will see it in English on your screen! I am certainly going to put it to good use when I visit a non English speaking country next! When I showed this to my techie husband he did not agree to him it was not magic but to me it is!

There is much more to Google Maps. Depending on the language your phone supports you can get the maps in Hindi! The maps give you estimated time of your journey and live traffic in the online mode. You might have noticed taxi drivers rerouting themselves on the map! You might be doing it yourself!

Do give me your feedback, how did you find the tips? From my side I used Google maps in London a lot and I will review it in near future! But before that another trip is coming up!

facebookShare on Facebook
TwitterTweet
FollowFollow us
PinterestSave

26 thoughts on “Cool Discoveries with Google Maps”

  1. Amit Prakash says:
    May 31, 2016 at 12:09 am

    Some cool hacks here…knew about the offline feature only…very informative and helpful post:-)

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      May 31, 2016 at 11:23 am

      Thank you Amit!

      Reply
  2. Prasad Np says:
    May 31, 2016 at 1:04 am

    I use Google maps almost every day, for driving, going on a walk and even on hikes to keep a track of where I am going. Compared to 5-7 years ago the Google map today is a very refined product.

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      May 31, 2016 at 11:25 am

      Ah till this meet, all I would do was to use it for driving instructions from point A to B. Now I know better!

      Reply
  3. Indrani says:
    May 31, 2016 at 9:34 am

    This should be helpful. Cool experience you have had.

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      May 31, 2016 at 11:24 am

      Yes Indrani for me the metro bit is quite helpful!

      Reply
  4. rupam { xhobdo } says:
    May 31, 2016 at 11:18 am

    Nice , Thanks for the info 🙂

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      May 31, 2016 at 11:24 am

      Thank you Rupam!

      Reply
  5. Priyama Pandey says:
    May 31, 2016 at 11:23 am

    Welcome to the world of Google Mridula, glad you enjoyed your little trip with Google… happy exploring the tech world!

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      May 31, 2016 at 1:41 pm

      Priyama it is going to be immensely useful in my future journeys too. Already I used it heavily in London! My only feedback is I need more features offline the public transport and walking ones! 😀

      Reply
  6. Anupam Chakraborty says:
    May 31, 2016 at 12:20 pm

    That’s very nice. Thanks for sharing

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      May 31, 2016 at 1:41 pm

      Thank you Anupam!

      Reply
  7. Maniparna Sengupta Majumder says:
    May 31, 2016 at 1:44 pm

    Very informative, Mridula…useful post… 🙂

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      May 31, 2016 at 2:09 pm

      Thank you Maniparna!

      Reply
  8. Tarun says:
    May 31, 2016 at 3:49 pm

    Hi Mridula,

    This is as comprehensive as it gets. Love the tutorial. Your simplicity with words at describing this would certainly allay fears in the not so tech-savvy guy like me.

    A very well written piece.

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      May 31, 2016 at 4:52 pm

      Hi tarun, thnk you for stopping and your kind words. I guess you found it easy to understand because I am also a not tech-savvy! 😀

      Reply
  9. A.P.Singh says:
    May 31, 2016 at 7:05 pm

    useful and informative article

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      June 22, 2016 at 1:57 pm

      Thank you so much!

      Reply
  10. Purba Chakraborty says:
    May 31, 2016 at 11:07 pm

    This is so cool. Great tips. A very informative post 🙂

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      June 22, 2016 at 1:58 pm

      Thank you Purba!

      Reply
  11. Sandeepa Chetan says:
    June 2, 2016 at 3:00 am

    We knew about all the features you’ve mentioned here. Good to know that Google is now seriously looking to improve this app and they are promoting it to. We hope they will resolved performance issues. Sometimes they are device related. Our main concern is SEARCH. It doesn’t work on offline maps. We have also tried HERE Maps app developed by Nokia and it is free at least for now. Now we toggle between Google maps and HERE Maps. We don’t rely on one app. If one app fails other one is a stand by.

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      June 22, 2016 at 1:59 pm

      Happy to hear about your experience and feedback. I will double check on the search bit myself! I used a Nokia phone once and HERE Maps were a serious help when we were on the verge of getting lost!

      Reply
  12. Arun says:
    June 6, 2016 at 2:06 pm

    Google maps have been a boon for me as even I am not very good with directions. Knew about most of the features you mentioned here but was not aware of the Local Guide one. That seems to be a really cool feature! Thanks for the info Mridula 🙂

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      June 22, 2016 at 2:01 pm

      Arun I reached level 4 and got 1TB but it is for two years. I can keep everything that I upload in two years and then upload no more. I think I will update this post after 2 years again to see how was my experience!

      Reply
  13. Saakshi Kumar says:
    June 12, 2016 at 7:17 am

    Now that’s something! Sounds really exciting. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    1. Mridula Dwivedi says:
      June 22, 2016 at 2:01 pm

      Thank you Saakshi, happy to hear that you liked the post!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

About Me

I am Mridula Dwivedi and I started this blog in 2005. It has been an amazing ride. I have visited 33 countries till date! I have worked with many tourism boards and prominent travel companies. My blog was featured on the BBC and the Guardian.

I did my Ph.D. from IIT Kanpur. I worked full time in academics till 2015! I quit my job as a professor, thinking I will take a break for one year, which turned into five.

Subscribe to the blog!

Subscribe

* indicates required

Support provided by Credible Content Writing & Copywriting Services

©2025 Travel Tales from India and Abroad | Powered by SuperbThemes