Explore more than navigation: New Google Maps features for holiday travel

With the holiday season approaching, Google Maps is one of the first apps many people turn to. We often associate it primarily with GPS navigation, unaware of other equally useful features that facilitate trip planning and exploring new places. Here are some of the most important ones to note.

Google Maps is a continuously evolving programme. Some users, accustomed only to navigating from point A to point B, may not realise the availability of additional features that can significantly enhance the comfort of travelling and be useful in many situations.

One feature of Google Maps is the immersive view, which covers famous landmarks worldwide. It combines the benefits of satellite images and Street View using artificial intelligence. This is an excellent tool for discovering new places and is particularly useful when planning a trip.

The immersive mode in Google Maps allows viewing places from a bird's eye perspective and experimenting with changing the time of day and weather conditions, enabling the simulation of conditions you may encounter when exploring new cities.

If you have trouble finding friends in the area, Google Maps allows you to send a pin to help them locate you on the map. The recipient can map out a route to the meeting place, making it easier to reach the destination in their preferred way.

Google Maps offers quick route planning from point A to point B using various modes of transport, but an interesting feature is the ability to measure the direct distance between two points.

This easy-to-use tool is helpful, for example, for estimating the area of a plot or determining the distance in an open space.

One of Google Maps's most well-known features is Street View, which allows you to browse images of selected locations taken by Google cars or people with cameras on backpacks. This feature is handy for drivers who want to see the route to their destination before they set off.

Google Maps also saves a selected map section on your phone's memory for offline use. This is invaluable in areas with weak internet coverage or when you want to limit mobile data usage. After previewing information about the location, simply select the area of the map to save.

It's worth noting that new features are continually being added to Google Maps. Keep your phone and app updated to ensure you don't miss any of them. Before going on holiday, planning your trip well regarding safety is also advisable. Other maps can also be helpful, including the latest one provided by the police, which records fatal accidents. These are places where one should be particularly cautious when heading for a break.