Google Maps tries to always a step ahead of rivals — and this coming holiday season, it’s highly likely that many of us will use Google’s mapping ecosystem to check details of stores nearby. The search giant announced in a Google Lat Long blog post on Friday that a new Google Maps update features “holiday hours” details of retail stores and other establishments.
Google Maps and Local Search product manager Jonathan Sidi told blog readers last weekend that the new Maps app now includes holiday schedule, meaning, users can check if the store is open in the Thanksgiving season or on Christmas day, and so on. For instance, users will see a special mark on operating hours of stores, like “Christmas eve hours,” or “Christmas eve might affect these hours” and these short notes will come directly from Google and retail store administrators.
In addition to the Maps app, the special holiday hours details will also appear on the Google search desktop or smartphone interface (local search). Google also added an “open now” filter to not display results of places that are currently closed that day.
This update is available globally, so tourists with the Google Maps app can also check if a coffee shop in Paris is open on Christmas eve — or a local bread store in London is open on New Year’s Day 2016.
Last week, Google Maps added traffic alerts on the iPhone. This update gives spoken traffic alerts in navigation mode, verbal summary of route’s condition, and notification about traffic conditions like road accidents or traffic congestions.
