5 ways this Google Maps AI feature helps you avoid tourist traps

Google Maps’ new AI chat tool was revealed during my visit to Mumbai. I had to plan long drives from the north side of my stay to the south and explore all the must-try places in between. It was the perfect opportunity To test Ask Maps to its limits – because that’s what Mumbai does to you. I’m proud to have made the most of this handy AI feature and found some amazing ways to make it work even more for me.

Maps work around mechanical numbers – distance and time – without counting the hours you spend in traffic or enduring the sun. But artificial intelligence understands these nuances. With access to vast amounts of data (from Maps and beyond), it can make plans around weather or commuting or any other preferences.

You can ask him to plan a half day in Udaipur with minimum walking in the harsh sun and he will suggest places close to each other or commuting options that avoid the heat. In my case, I asked to plan a slow evening on Marine Drive, staying late into the night with several eateries serving local food on the way home that were open after midnight.

So instead of meeting their needs, the itinerary was tailored to how I wanted to spend my time.

Google Maps already shows how crowded a place is during the day. When planning a full-day or weekend route using AI, you can ask it to avoid rush hours, especially in the city’s hotspots. This trick works perfectly for Mumbai’s busiest cafes, which usually have long queues and don’t have the option to book in advance. We arrived a little before rush hour and found a table right away.

I’ve used this trick manually before when my family visited the Taj Mahal, but it required a lot of coordination on my part. Now that AI is generating complete itineraries, it’s smarter to ask it to avoid rush hours for more enjoyable visits and photo ops.

Ask the maps essentially based on Gemini Big data that Google Maps collects through street photos and user feedback. It makes it easy to ask for restaurant and other recommendations, and you can narrow down your search as precisely as you want – an old-school cafe serving vegan food on the way to your next stop in South Bombay. I’m sure I wouldn’t have been able to do that before AI, at least not for a few seconds.

When he presents you with options, ask him to justify why he suggested those places and in that order. This forces the AI ​​to compare options instead of just listing them. This survey mode helps you filter out the popular but not worth the general offers and find the really interesting and underrated places. This is a way to make the AI ​​work smarter than lazily.

Finding a restaurant is all about the cuisine you’re in the mood for, but tourist spots rarely get the same vibe check. It usually becomes “what’s convenient at the moment” and becomes a checklist instead of something you fully experience.

You can counter this by asking the AI ​​to build your day around vibrations. For example, we started super early one weekend and wanted the first few hours to feel quiet and slow. After a hearty breakfast, we wanted something more lively, like exploring the bustling local market. Then we wanted to end the day on the same peaceful note we started it on, so we planned a quiet evening by the sea.

This gave Map a rigid structure to work with, so its suggestions were exactly what we wanted. They clicked almost immediately with a brief back and forth.

AI included Google Maps it’s possible to get tons of quality information from user reviews – the kind of information you won’t find in listings. If the road in front of the store is broken, if there is ample parking or if the toilets are clean.

Shifting the focus from what’s good to what’s not good for people, especially in popular tourist spots, gives you a better idea of ​​what to avoid or what’s acceptable. I like walking around on a warm morning, but if the place smells bad or the staff is rude, I want to know in advance and in most cases I want to pass it on.

It’s almost like reading balanced three-star reviews on Amazon; they give you a truer picture of what to expect without bias.

These have proven to be my most useful Google Maps recommendations. Not only do they make discovery faster, but they’re smarter and more tailored to my needs in the moment. Asking Maps is something I can’t imagine living without anymore – now when I open Maps, my thumb automatically goes to it.

Do you have your own tricks? Let us know in the comments below.