Google Maps’ Busy Area Is Now Live

Google told us about a new feature called “busy area” a few weeks ago. It looks like this feature is now starting to roll out. This roll out has been seen by a number of people over the last few days. When you look at an area on the Google Maps app, Google will name it as a “busy area” and show you that it is busy by making an icon pulse.

This is a picture of it that Praveen Sharma posted on Twitter:

Google Maps Area With Lots of People

This is a GIF of it getting used:

Google Maps Area With Lots of People

Google wrote that this is a good way to stay away from crowds:

When you’re going back to your hometown or checking out a new city, the new feature Area Busyness can help you find out right away when a neighbourhood or part of town is getting close or is the busiest. Let’s say you don’t like crowds. You can use Google Maps to find places to stay away from, like the area around a holiday fair. You can also easily find out which neighbourhoods are busy if you’re travelling and want to see some of the town’s busiest spots.
Want to know more? You can see how busy a neighbourhood is at different times of the day and what restaurants, shops, and fun places (like a museum) are in it by tapping on it. This will help you decide if you want to go there. In time for the holidays, Area Busyness is now available all over the world on both Android and iOS.

Talk in a forum on Twitter.