Let your Maps app guide you home this holiday season
The year-end holiday season is here, and if you’re skipping the airport and hitting the highway for your family gatherings, both Google Maps and Apple’s Maps have apps that can save you time and money. Sure, online map navigation has been around for years, but if you haven’t used the apps lately, both companies recently improved their tools for modern road trip problems, like finding electric vehicle charging stations or not getting lost in a country with a low signal. Here’s an overview.
Choose a route
For a lot of people, Google Maps (for Android, iOS And WearOS) and Apple’s Cards (for its iOS devices and Apple watches) have become the best tools for getting around. The apps are free, easy to use and often installed by default on a device. (Ad-free subscription products such as TomTom GO And Sygic GPS navigation are app store alternatives for those who want options.)
Getting started is easy: Open Google Maps or Apple’s Cards, enter the destination point for your trip, tap the Directions button, and enter your departure point. The app shows you potential routes – with time and toll costs – between the two places. Both apps let you add stops along the way and filter toll roads, highways and other factors from your driving route.
On Google Maps you can also choose the engine type of your car the most fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly journey. The app is displayed on many routes Examples of Street View images of the roads you will be taking so that you can familiarize yourself with them before you go. Google recently released a Immersive view feature that combines Street View imagery with artificial intelligence and other technology to create even deeper and more detailed route previews; Immersive View is available in 15 cities so far, including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Miami.
As you start your journey, both the Google and Apple apps provide visual and audible turn-by-turn directions, directly on your phone or through your car’s display – if your phone is connected via a dashboard system that supports Android Auto or Apple’s CarPlay software.
Although it is a separate download, Google also owns the Waze app for crowdsourced traffic information of its users. Waze is preferred by some drivers for its real-time updates and directions, and the app was recently added new functionslike it crash history alerts for roads where accidents often occur.
Put on and connect
If you have an electric vehicle, worrying about a dying battery can add to the anxiety of driving on a busy highway.
Some electric car systems include Google Maps or work with Apple’s Cards for route planning, battery level and charging station locations. On your phone, enter ‘EV charging’ in the Maps search box to see the nearest charging stations with real-time availability. You can filter your results based on loading speed and network. In Google Maps you filter by plug type or choose a standard plug type in the app settings.
Alternative third party apps like PlugShare, ChargePoint And ChargeHub also offer features such as charger availability and payment services. You can also bookmark the US Department of Energy Data center for alternative fuels page, which also shows nearby stations.
Use maps without signal
Real-time navigation provides a sense of security, but if you’ve ever been in an area with poor cell service and seen your map freeze, you may remember the inconvenience. Fortunately, Google Maps and Apple’s Maps (in iOS 17) you can download maps and directions to plan ahead for those quiet times or even when your phone is offline.
Depending on the size of the area, these maps may take up part of the surface storage space on your phone or the SD card, but you can easily remove them after your trip. Not every part of the country can be downloaded, so make sure you have a backup for your backup, even an old-fashioned printed map.
In the Google Maps app, tap your profile photo in the top right corner, choose Offline Maps from the menu, then select your own map. Move the rectangle on the screen to the area you want to capture and tap the Download button to save the map data to your phone; this card arrives when your connection goes south.
In the same way download a location in Apple’s Maps appsearch for the place and tap the Download button to save it to your iPhone. Downloaded maps can also be viewed on an Apple Watch within the Bluetooth range (about 10 meters) of the iPhone.
Heading out during the busier holiday season comes with its own challenges, but a well-tuned mapping app can help you prepare. You may encounter some traffic, but at least you won’t have to worry about your flight being delayed or canceled.