Google Maps Beta Now Shows How Hard It will Be to Park at Your Destination

BY GreenBot Staff

Published 27 Jan 2017

If you’ve ever taken longer to find a parking spot than driving somewhere. Maps might help or at least prepare you for a headache. Thanks to a new feature in the latest version of the app. You’ll now be able to tell how hard it will be to park once you arrive at your destination. The new feature is easy to miss. The next time you pull up driving directions. You’ll see a small circular icon to the right of your route overview. The following will show three levels of parking difficulty. Easy, Medium, and Limited, to make it easier to see at a glance. Easy and medium colored blue, while limited is red. While the feature doesn’t update to show the actual parking situation when you arrive, at least not yet. You can get a slightly longer description when you expand your directions.
The update was rolled out in the Play Store, but if you’re not seeing it, you can sideload the App from AMirror. Keep in mind that the feature is only available in 25 cities across the U.S. The Cities include Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, and Minneapolis. Also, New York City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Sacramento, and San Diego. San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa, and the Washington D.C. area.
Why this matters: Parking can be a significant headache when driving somewhere new, so we’ll take any information we can get. And with the latest Uber integration built right into the app, a red circle could mean the difference between driving or being driven somewhere.