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Crowds at stores, restaurants, medical offices, post offices, and other places are rarely a welcome sight. But in these days of social distancing, crowds can frighten even the bravest among us.
Google Maps has a tool that may be able to help you avoid crowds when you dare to leave home during this pandemic. Yes, staying at home is our best defense against being infected by COVID-19/Coronavirus, but sometimes we need to leave home even when we don’t want to.
If we must leave home, we should try to time our excursions to avoid crowds. Sometimes we may not have a choice of when we leave our homes. But if we can plan our trips out of the house, we should plan them when places are the least busy.
Also see => Google Maps Can Show You How Busy a Place Is Right Now
Google Maps has a tool to help us know when places tend to be most crowded. By using this tool, you may be able to delay your visit to a time when the place isn’t as busy, helping you avoid crowds.
Google can determine when places are the busiest, using data collected from Location History on phones. Google Maps shares information about when places are the busiest in a handy chart, both in the app and on the website .
The chart, called Popular Times by Google, shows you the average busiest times at a business today and on other days of the week. You can look into the future to see when places tend to be the busiest, both by time and by the day of the week to help plan your outings.
Also see => How Google Maps Can Help You Avoid Future Traffic Snarls
How to See the Busiest Times on Google Maps
Seeing the busiest time on Google Maps is easy, both on the app and the website. Search for the name of the business you want to visit. You’ll be able to see a chart of the most popular times, and with some businesses, the average wait times and duration of people’s visits.
Google Maps App Busiest Times
When you see the results for the business you searched for in Google Maps, you’ll be able to see a chart of the busiest times on average for that place. Scroll down below the map until you see the Popular Times chart.
Tap the arrow for a list of days of the week so you can compare them and see how you may be able to avoid crowds.
Don’t miss =>Free Stuff to Help You While Social Distancing
Google Maps Website Busiest Times
On the Google Maps website, you can see a chart of how busy the place traditionally is, as well as average wait times and duration of visits for some businesses.
Use the drop-down menu or the arrows on the side of the chart to see how busy the place is on future days of the week. You can compare days and times to see when is the best time to visit and avoid crowds.
What Else You Need to Know
Information about when places are most busy isn’t a guarantee that you’ll be able to avoid crowds. This information is an average, gathered over time, and Google doesn’t reveal how recent this information is.
One way to check if Google Maps’ Popular Times chart is current, is to look at the opening hours of the place. Many stores and restaurants have limited their hours during the COVID-19 pandemic. If Google Maps shows busy times at an hour when a store is no longer open, you know the information isn’t current and may not be as helpful.
Popular Times charts only show a history of how many people with Google Maps Location History have been at that location. That may include workers at the store, in addition to customers. And it doesn’t include those who don’t have Google Maps on their phones or those who may have deleted their Location History.
See => How Your Google Maps Timeline Can Show You Where You’ve Been
Popular Times charts aren’t available for all places. If you don’t see a chart showing the busiest times, then you may not be able to get that information from Google Maps.
What may be “popular” for one business may not be a crowd. With limitations on many stores now and restricted travel, the most popular times on a chart may not mean many people are present. Or, less popular times may mean more people than you’re comfortable being around.
Popular Times charts on Google Maps may be a helpful way to get guidance on reducing your exposure to crowds though it isn’t a guarantee that you’ll be able to avoid them completely. But Popular Times charts could be a helpful tool for you to anticipate how busy a place may be before you leave home.
Your Thoughts
Do you like to avoid crowds when you go out? Have you ever checked Google Maps for Popular Times? Have you found the information about Popular Times on Google Maps to be accurate?
Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
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*Crowded store image (edited) courtesy of Ines Hegedus-Garcia via Flickr and Creative Commons
Hi Carolyn
I try to do my grocery shopping on times where there is not to many people out shopping e.g. late evening or early morning. I was wondering if the data Google use, are average for the last 3 months or something like that? If it is, the data might not be adjust for the new way people are behaving on. I guess I am not the only one that have changed my shopping pattern. Do you know what data Google are basing this tool on?
Hi Thomas, Google is basing its data on Location History in the Google Maps app. They don’t say how old the data is but I have seen the charts be adjusted to new opening times at local stores. Many of the store in our area have shorter hours now and that has been reflected in the charts on Google Maps.
I hope that the Popular Times charts in Google Maps help you avoid crowds when you are shopping in your grocery store, Thomas.
Hi Carolyn,
I was using Google Maps only for traveling so far. As you know, it’s useful to find the easiest and less crowded routes to reach a destination. But using it for shopping may not work in my area. This is a village and almost none is using Google Maps here to check-in or leave feedback.
Thanks for the writing. I shared your post on Twitter.
Hi Manoj, Yes, you can use Google Maps for traveling but it also can come in handy for other reasons. The Popular Times feature can help you avoid crowds, if it covers businesses near you. I hope that you do get coverage in your village, Manoj, so you can use Google Maps to try to avoid crowds.
Hello there Carolyn,
I was utilizing Google Maps just for voyaging up until now. As you probably are aware, it’s valuable to locate the most straightforward and less jam-packed courses to arrive at a goal. In any case, utilizing it for shopping may not work in my general vicinity. This is a town and practically none is utilizing Google Maps here to registration or leave input.
Hi Flynn, This information isn’t available for all businesses on Google Maps. But it may prove helpful to you if you check it before you leave home. You may find that the information helps you avoid crowds.
Hey Carolyn,
I from India. This is actually new concept for me. First of all, in India not all the stores are listed on Google Maps. and also due to bad connectivity we are unable to access internet whenever we want at any place.
But, thanks for sharing such great article with us.
Hi Vishal, Not every business has this information available in Google Maps. But you may want to check before heading out to see whether this information is available and whether you could use it to avoid crowds.
Whoa, big brother is definitely tracking our every move. So I definitely don’t mind manual information added. For example, Google Maps has a very cool feature for those driving where people can manually add anything from crashes & slow downs to hidden speed traps. Of course like you said, its not guaranteed to be 100% accurate since it is manually added.
Now with the Busiest time feature, of course, during this unusual time, we want everyone to be safe & healthy. However, at what cost are we slowly giving up our freedoms of being tracked in exchange for a perceived safety?
Hi Eric, You’re right, by using this information we are utilizing a feature that relies on Google Maps tracking us. We don’t have to use Google Maps or we can delete our Location History. But if this information is helpful to us, then we may consider that the tradeoff of our privacy is worth the benefit of having this information.
No doubt Google Maps is giving to the businesses more business but ultimately Google is tracking us every second, which is bad for human beings in the future.
Hello M, You’re right, this information is available because of Location Services on Google Maps. We don’t have to use Google Maps or be tracked by Google, but we have become accustomed to trading some privacy for the convenience of the navigation services and other features of Google Maps. You make a good point that we should consider the privacy implications of enjoying these conveniences.
Hi Carolyn!
It’s great feature of Google map. I never tried this function of Google map. I think It’s great thing.
As you know Corona virus is a problem of everywhere. So I think its really great feature.
I will try this before going to any store.
Thanks Carolyn for sharing such a great information with us.
Hi Muhammad, You’re right Coronavirus is everywhere, but unfortunately the Popular Times feature of Google Maps isn’t available for all businesses. I hope it’s available in your area and helps you avoid crowds.
This feature can be very helpful, even beyond this pandemic, for the many people who don’t like crowds in general. I hope Popular Times in Google Maps is helpful to you, Muhammad.
Due to COVID19 to avoid crowds and maintain social distancing from the people now at public places like store, restaurants, etc google has the best features in it with the help of that we can follow this rules
Hi Charmi, Excellent point. Social distancing is much easier when fewer people are present. Google Maps Popular Times can help us social distance by knowing the best times to avoid crowds.
This is great news. We can use gmaps for more than just traffic. Hopefully this feature works in my area too. Would want to check it out and see how accurate it is. I suppose that Google are taking advantage of the recent surge in smartphone use . Thanks once again for an insightful article.
Hello Ukweli, Yes, this feature of Google Maps can be extremely helpful, and especially when we are trying to practice social distancing. But almost any time in life we may want to avoid crowds if we can.
Popular Times isn’t a new feature from Google Maps during the pandemic. I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while as it can be very useful. Now seemed to be the perfect time to write about it.
I hope Popular Times is helpful for you, Ukweli.