Earlier this year, Google Map offered users in the US the option to see whether parking is going to be difficult close to their destination and if so, whether there are other parking options available. Now, Google has extended this facility to 25 cities outside the US.
These cities are, Alicante, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Cologne, Darmstadt, Dusseldorf, London, Madrid, Malaga, Manchester, Milan, Montreal, Moscow, Munich, Paris, Prague, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Sao Paulo, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Toronto, Valencia and Vancouver. Additionally, Google has also updated its Maps platform with a new feature called “parking difficulty” that is accessed via an icon on the Google Maps destination card.
The level of parking difficulty is categorized into ‘limited,’ ‘medium’ and ‘easy’ on the basis of historical parking data and machine learning. The feature is presently available on phones with Android OS. After identifying their parking slot, when a user taps his selected option, it automatically gets added to his trip. Since walking from the parking slot to the final destination is a vital matter, Google has mapped this walking distance and now offers walking directions from the parking slot to the final destination. Another parking reminder feature that allows users to record their parking locations was launched by Google Maps in April this year.
However, this new update has been found wanting by some users who felt that unless they get to know the number of parking slots available in a parking garage recommended by Google, as well as the price they have to pay for booking the parking slot the new update Map update isn’t worth much. They have a point when they point out that certain parking apps in Europe already offer such information and it’s only fair to expect it from the global leader. Of course, it won’t be long before Google identifies this gap in its offering and comes up with a solution that could include the option reserve parking slots in a garage.