Google is introducing a new group location planning feature in its map navigation app
New features for Google Maps. Big G’s digital mapping app, in fact, is about to introduce new tools that allow you to plan group trips and outings much more easily and quickly. This is group planning, announced last spring during Google I/O 2018 and now finally being deployed.
As we were saying, group planning (as the name also says, at the end) will facilitate the work of those people who, in a group of friends or relatives, take the trouble every time to create a route or itinerary and then having to adapt it to everyone’s wishes. With the new feature Google Maps will allow you to create real lists of places to visit, which can then be shared with your friends (provided they have a Google account, of course). In this way, everyone will be able to add destinations to visit or report any critical issues, unloading the burden that previously weighed only on one person.
How does group planning work on Maps
Using group planning on Google Maps is really simple. Initially we have to create a list of places, for example a house, a museum, a restaurant, a club and so on that we want to share with our friends. A place shared via Google account can be commented, shared again, or rated in the case of restaurants and clubs by the members of our group. In practice, in this way it will be possible to insert additional directions to reach a particular place or review the restaurant after a dinner with friends and then have fun seeing the comments of all the guests. The places inserted for the group planning will be displayed as a small bubble in the bottom left corner of Maps and if we touch the bubble we’ll open the list of the various places selected.
Adding a place to our list of shared places for group planning is really simple: just press and hold on a place displayed on the map and from the menu that appears select Add to Shortlist. If a friend invites us to a group with shared places, we will receive a notification on Maps. We can decide to join the group or refuse. If we join the group planning we will be able to comment, rate or rename the group and the chosen location. Besides, we can also in turn add new people. In short, for the planning of events and appointments with friends and colleagues this seems like a great news for Maps, who knows how long the beta testing phase will last and when Google will decide to make it official as a new feature for both iOS and Android.