Did you know you can change the vehicle icon in Google Maps?
Here’s how.
Once you’ve started your navigation in Google Maps, just tap on the blue arrow and choose
your vehicle icon.
I think I’m feeling mellow yellow today.
Want more Google Maps goodness?
You’re in luck because these are the best hidden Google Maps features you should know.
Hey friends, I’m Tasia Custode, and welcome back to my YouTube Channel where I share tech
tips, app reviews, and enough Google content we could navigate the world over.
Let’s jump back into our hidden Google Maps tips and tricks.
This next Google Maps feature is something I use all the time.
You can save labels to quickly navigate to your favorite places.
There are a couple of ways to do this, but let’s say you type in your work address,
and you want to save that as your place of work.
Tap on label, then we’ll type in work.
You can do this for any address and add any label you want.
Tap done and now when you’re ready to navigate to work, you can just type in work, or tap
on the option that comes up under your search bar.
Google Maps will automatically save your most-used labels up there.
And by the way, this trick works on both mobile and desktop.
Tip number 3, did you know you can measure distance and area in Google Maps?
Well, you can, and this is another one you can do both on desktop and in the app.
So, first, in the app, let’s say you’re in Firenze and you want to know the distance
from your hotel to the duomo.
All you have to do is drop a pin and then tap and hold on the dropped pin and then tap
on measure distance.
Now you can move the map around to drag the measurement tool to your spot and you’ll
have the distance in the bottom left.
You can also add a point in the bottom right if you want to measure another spot along
the way.
From desktop, it works nearly the same way, but this time you right click on your dropped
pin and select ‘measure distance’.
Then, just click on the location and you’ve got it measured out for you in feet and meters
and you can just keep clicking to add to your path.
Pretty neat, but as promised you can also calculate area.
On desktop, we’re going to use our same measure distance trick, but this time we’ll
connect the dots so to speak.
So, If I want to know the general area of Boboli gardens, I’ll keep clicking to add
measurement points around the entire Boboli perimeter.
And now, we can also see the total area, measure both in sq footage and square meters.
You can easily spend half a day wandering here, but be sure to check out palazzo pitti
too.
So while we’re on an Italian adventure, let’s say you’ve got to get to a meeting
point at a certain time so you don’t miss your wine tour, well you can actually set
a reminder to leave on time.
So from mobile, with your directions set, scroll down to the bottom and toggle on the
option that will remind you to leave on time.
Here, select either the time you want to depart at, or the time you want to arrive by.
Then, just tap on ‘set reminder’.
You’ll now get a reminder on when to leave that takes into account current traffic conditions.
Next up, you can drag and drop to modify your route.
On desktop, once you’ve got the directions set, when you hover your mouse over any of
the blue dots, you’ll have an option to drag to change the route.
So, you can simply click and drag to the route you want and drop.
If you want to undo what you just did, double-click on the route.
Alright, I think we’re on Maps tip number 6 and that’s to save a location for quick
access.
This is similar to what we did with labels.
When you’ve searched for a location, simply click on save.
Here, you can choose how you want to save the location, like your favorites or somewhere
you want to go, or you could add it to a new list.
You can easily access any of your saved locations by clickin on the hamburger menu then clicking
on ‘your places’.
Here, you’ll have all your lists and you’ll notice you’ve also got your labels tab too,
which we learned how to save earlier.
By the way, this works on mobile as well, you’ll just swipe up from the location information
and click on ‘save’ at the bottom.
Alright, did you know you can also see inside buildings on Google Maps?
Well, some buildings at least.
We’re leaving Italy for this example, so, ciao Italia!
I find this works well with malls, so let’s search for the Mall of america.
As we zoom in, we can start to see a lot of the store inside the mall.
But you may also notice on the righthand side, we’ve got numbers.
These are floor numbers, believe it or not.
So, you can click to see what stores are on what floors.
I mean, come on.
I’d say pretty neat, but I’d just keep saying that all the time, so I’ll spare
you.
But before we jump to hidden Google Map feature number 8, if you’re liking this video so
far, please remember to give it a like and subscribe to my channel for more content just
like this.
Now back to the list.
You’re probably familiar with street view, but you can actually get a detailed street
view history.
This is so cool.
Ok, yes, we’re back in Italy.
So from desktop, you’ll click on the little yellow person icon near the bottom right.
Every street that turns blue means that street view is available there.
So, I’m going to zoom in here a little bit.
But since we have the street view icon selected, you can just click on any of the blue lines
where you’d like to get that street-level view.
Now, in the top left you’re going to have some information on when this street view
image was captured.
If you click on the little down-facing arrow with the clock, suddenly, you’re going to
have a history of that street view that you can scroll through to see how times have changed.
And if you click on any of the past images, you can see it in full-screen.
Time travel without ever leaving your seat.
Number 9 on the list is one I’ve touted many times before, but it’s an absolute
must for travel and that’s to download maps for offline use.
There are a few ways to do this from mobile, but let’s stay in Florence for this first
example.
You’ll have an option right in the card here to download the map of florence.
By the way, I’m showing you this on iOS, but you can do this on Android too, but you’ll
tap on the three-dot menu icon near the top right to download the map.
Either way, it’ll tell you how much space it will take to download the map, and just
tap download.
If you want a full tutorial on how to download maps for offline navigation and how offline
maps work, I’ve linked to that video in the description below.
And last, but certainly not least, is the ability to send directions to your phone.
This is so handy when you’re looking something up on desktop and want to pop it right over
to your mobile device.
So once you’ve pulled up your directions on desktop, just click on ‘send directions
to your phone’ on the lefthand panel.
Every device that you are signed into Google Maps on should appear here for you.
You also have the option to email the directions to yourself or text them to yourself.
But whatever you want to do, just click on that option and the directions are instantly
sent via that method.
If you want even more Google Maps tips, you’re in luck.
I’ve linked to a bunch more maps tips and tricks videos below.
And if you still can’t get enough, well then bless you sweet baby angel, just let
me know in the comments below and I’ll make yet another Google Maps tips video for ya.
So what did you think of these hidden Google Maps features?
What’s your favorite?
Let me know in the comments below.
As always, thanks so much for watching, if you liked this video, I want to know so give
it a like, a share or leave that comment below.
You can click right about here to subscribe to my channel and right here and here for
more Google Maps tips Thanks for watching, and see ya next time!