Google Maps had saved me tons of cash and stress on so many occasions. Finding the address of a strange street you’ve never been to or searching for the nearest cafe near your office is so simple. The Google Maps alerts me everyday about how long it will take me to get to work and back home everyday hence, good traffic monitoring solution.

It works both on Android devices and iPhones and whatever futuristic Operating System t hat will be released in the near future only but Huawei based devices because you know USA-China trade issues unless you live in Neptune, that’s no longer a news in 2020.

But anyway today’s hack is about getting the most out of your Google Maps application because you just like others probably just use the very basic features of the application and you are definitely not going to enjoy the fullness of the service.

Interesting features of the Google Maps includes the ability to easily translate names and address when visiting other countries. You can even navigate an entire Airports using this application. The Street View is my beloved feature which shows the full 3 Dimension of an address you’re searching.

But what could be a bit disappointing is the fact that iPhone users have slightly different features compared to Android device users so don’t be surprised if all the goodies I’ve been listing isn’t appearing on your own version of the application or maybe you need to just upgrade to the most recent version at least. So let’s talk about the top interesting features that makes the Google Maps golden

Allows you to Translate Names and Address

Planning on visiting your Long Distance Girlfriend in Thailand or China (Though I wouldn’t advise that yet) but you only need as much information as possible in order to be able to surf through the environment, then this feature is a great bet for you.

The Google Maps added a new feature which allows you listen to names of restaurants and other places which might be interesting while you’re traveling to those location. While that might sound like Google is always advising you on what to buy or what restaurant to visit, it’s not at least bad to trust the big G once in a while right.

Okay, in order for you to be able to use this feature, you need to Search for the location sand then Tap on it when you see the result you want. The next thing is to tap on the Speaker Icon placed right next to the name of the place.

The button then plays the name to you in the native way possible. It’ll be so easy for you to be able to pronounce names of places with ease as though you’ve been to the place in the past.

(iPhone only) You can even Cutomize your Vehicle icon

Okay this one might sound Gimmicky but not to worry because if you’re like me, I love changes alot. So if you’re tired of the Little Blue Arrow while you drive, then you can personalize that and change it between the kind of car you’re driving be it a Red Sedan or Green Truck or a Yellow SUV.

So the new color is just there to enhance a much better user experience which can be easier for you to locate rather than the blue icon which might be nowhere to be found on the map while you need to look for where you are.

And lastly, the sad news is that to enjoy this feature, you might have to ditch your overtly expensive Galaxy S20 Ultra or whatever Android smartphone you’re using for an iPhone because of course, it only works with the latter until Google adds this to future Android versions.

You can now Order food YAY!

Although sedentary lifestyle is very bad but for whatever reason that might demand you stay at home and do not want to bother yourself looking for where to get a food, you can easily place order right on your Google Maps as the company had partnered with big brands like DoorDash, Postmates, Delivery.com, Slice and ChowNow.

In order to do this, just look on for the Restaurants that are in this service and then tap on Order Online. Next thing is to Choose the Delivery and pick a service to deliver your food.

Now you can add what you’d like to eat to your cart. When you’re finished, select Checkout, enter your payment details and then tap Place Your Order. But try and go out sometimes so as to be healthy.

You can even measure the distance between areas

There are some AR-Based application that does this but well, everything seems to now be right within the Google Maps AIO.

So if you want to know the distance from a place to the other, then there is a tool within the Google Maps for that which is called Measure Distance and can be used either on the Desktop or smartphone.

With this feature, you get the distance in feet and kilometers. For the Desktop users (Web Browsers), Right Click the starting point in Google Maps,then select Measure Distance and then continue the Measuring path until you’ve selected the entire area where you’d like to measure.

And as for smartphone users, to do this, you have to press and then hold on the Starting point until you see a Dropped Pin. Now, click on the Menu and then look for Measure Distance at the Bottom of the screen and select

Then a line of Blue Dots will appear which can be dragged with your finger across the screen until you reach the destination you want to measure.

When you’ve reached where you want to stop, tap Add point. A new set of blue lines will appear and you can repeat the steps until you’ve measured the entire area.

The Indoors Map Feature

If you’ve ever been to really large international Airports, it can be daunting especially if you’ve never been there before. But there is a way to navigate through the large hallway using the Google Maps which directs you to the terminals.

The Map will show you places such as the nearby gates, restaurants, shops, lounges and other places of interest in that area. 

To use this feature, search for the Terminal which you’re seeking and then you can zoom in and out to see different floors and or switch to them by just tapping on which floor you want. This feature is also available for participating malls and other large venues so next CES, be sure to remember this feature.

There are other interesting features on the Google Maps and since it’s been redesigned to commemorate it’s 15 years, the Google Maps had continued to be a sure life saver.