Navigation is not the only thing you can do with Google Maps. In fact, you can even travel between different points in time! Maps is known for having hidden gems that you can access daily, but they come in clutch when you need them.
Using these features, you can plan upcoming trips and find places that you visited in the past and forgot about, so it’s not just about time travel for fun’s sake. Here are three features that will help you become a digital time traveler, and how you can use them.
Go back in time with Street View
Same place, different time?
Google Maps has many features that you may not use daily, with hidden gems like parking locations being useful for travel. One of these is a Street View feature that allows you to view a location’s 360° view across the years, and it’s one of the features I use for fun, beyond navigation, from the comfort of my home.
To use Street View’s “time travel” feature, search for a location in your Maps app. You will notice a small box in the lower left corner above the location’s name with a 360° arrow. Tap this box to access Street View. Then, tap the date of the view, after which you will get a panel showing you a Street View of that same location from different points in time. You can switch between years and take a 360° view of the place and how it changed over time.
Note that this feature is heavily dependent on Maps’ Street View cars, as well as contributions by Maps users, so not all locations may have an extensive photo library from different years. The calendar feature, specifically, works very well with more well-known, touristy spots, and you can use it for locations across the world. It can be used on the desktop version of Maps as well.
Track your travel history with Timeline
A digital diary of all your visits
One of the most underrated features on Google Maps is Timeline. This is basically a way to record and preserve your location history, essentially a digital travelogue, so you can trace your steps back by weeks, months, and even years. Timeline is very useful when you want to revisit and recall places you might have forgotten about, or when planning future vacations to places you may have visited in the past. I’ve used this feature many times when I’m revisiting my favorite cities or trying to recall the names of local hidden gems.
To access your Google Maps Timeline, tap your profile picture in the app. Tap on “Your Timeline,” then Maps will “take you back in time.” Using the calendar option, you can tap on any day (during which Timeline was enabled) to see your visits, travel insights, previous trips, cities, etc.
If you want to enable this feature for the first time, make sure you tap the three dots on top of the Timeline page, go to Location and Privacy Settings, device location is on, and “Timeline” is also toggled on.
You can use the pen icon in Timeline to add, edit, and delete visits in a day, and add notes if needed.
Do keep in mind that when you enable Timeline, you consent to Google regularly saving each of your devices’ precise locations to show you where you’ve been, including when Google apps aren’t open. If you have privacy concerns, you can always delete your Timeline data on Maps at any time or disable it completely by going to Timeline settings (which you can find and manage under “Location and Privacy” under Timeline data). Timeline can be used on the Google Maps mobile app for iOS and Android.
Save places for future trips
The quickest way to make a digital itinerary
We’ve all had days when we’ve looked up a new coffee place or café that popped up on a social feed, but forgotten its name the next week. If you want to bookmark places on Google Maps to come back to at a later date, the navigation app lets you save them for the future. This lets you recall and revisit places you’ve previously visited, or plan future trip itineraries without relying on other apps or resources.
When you save a place on Google Maps, the service saves the place’s name, location, and other information. But with Google Maps, that’s not all you have the capability to do. You can also make custom Lists, which let you create a list of saved places and group them for future use. For example, you can create separate lists for your upcoming international trip, local shopping gems, work cafés, etc. Plus, Maps lets you add notes to your saved places so you can add your own thoughts about a place while saving it, so you can keep track of important information as well.
To save a place on Google Maps, search for a place in the app or long-press on the map to drop a pin, tap the location name/address at the bottom, and select “Save.”
To create a new list, go to the “You” (bookmark icon) tab at the bottom of your screen, then tap “New List” to customize details. Tap “Create” to finish. Now, when you save a place, you can add it to the list of your choice. Saved places can also be tagged for easy categorization. You can save places and create lists on the mobile app and the desktop version.
Google Maps has a string of features you can explore that you may not be using for your daily commute. With Maps’ new features, Ask Anything and Immersive Navigation, which are rolling out to users every day, you can travel better than before.
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
