Three Google Maps Secrets All Users Must Know

This includes the standard navigation component, Street View, and the support for Android Auto and CarPlay, which once again comes down to getting directions to a user-defined destination.

Google Maps, however, is capable of doing so much more, including things like issuing reminders when it’s time to leave for the trip, getting train and bus departure times, and checking business information from the comfort of your sofa.

Mastering the entire Google Maps feature arsenal, however, takes a lot of time, and this is why today, we’ll share three less-known things about the app.

The mysterious chime

If you use Google Maps to navigate to a user-defined destination and rely on voice directions for the whole thing, there’s a chance that instead of “turn left,” you might hear a simple chime.

Many people believe Google Maps is broken, and this is the reason it doesn’t issue actual voice directions when navigating.

The chime, however, is actually a replacement that Google Maps turns to when the voice directions aren’t downloaded or must be updated.

There’s nothing special that you need to do, though. Google Maps automatically downloads the voice directions when the app is running, and once the process comes to an end, the chime should just go away. If this doesn’t happen, make sure you clear the cache and the data of Google Maps.

Finding parking locations… only available for some users

One of the best things about Google Maps is that it can also look up places to park your car right before leaving on a new journey.

This way, the application can search for parking spots close to your destination, so the final point is therefore reconfigured to get you right to the parking place.

This is, without a doubt, a great feature, but if you can’t find it in your Google Maps, this is because it’s only available for some users.

First and foremost, this is more of a half-baked feature that is only available in some U.S. cities. In other words, it’s not live outside the U.S., and even if you are now located in Google’s home country, there’s a chance this feature is missing as well.

And then, it’s only available on Android, as you can’t search for places to park on iPhone and iPad. This means you’ll only get this special capability on Google’s own mobile OS.

Real-time traffic information is no magic

In case you’re wondering how come Google Maps can tell the traffic conditions, it all comes down to a concept known as crowdsourcing.

This means Google receives information on road conditions from the other users running Google Maps on their devices. The aggregate location data is sent to Google when users navigate with Google Maps, so the company can analyze this information and generate current traffic estimates that are then used for calculating the ETA to your destination, while also warning of traffic jams, accidents, and other things that could slow you down.

This is an approach used by other navigation apps as well, including Waze. Users on the road contribute with information that helps other drivers – both Waze and Google Maps also support user-generated traffic reports that help Google better understand what’s happening on the road.

Again, there’s nothing special that you need to do, as Google Maps sends the required information when the app is running on your mobile, so you can contribute to its routing algorithms by simply keeping it open when you are behind the wheel.