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Coming soon to Google Maps is another very useful tool called ‘Sharing location’ which will be accessible via the slide out menu. This feature will allow you to send your exact location and ETA to a particular friend or a group of friends. Seemingly a fix for all the times when you have been in a situation where your friends are messaging you to find out when you will be arriving? or where you are now? The example in Google’s video is a prime example – if you are coordinating a surprise party and have guests coming from around the city, now you can keep track of where everybody is located and their ETAs, including the main guest of honor, of course.
The new option is easy to use as you simply open the side menu or tap on the blue dot that represents your current location on Maps. Tap ‘Share location’ and then you can select who you want to share the information with and how long you want them to know where you are located for. This real-time information can be shared with your contacts, as well as those who may not be a contact – by sending a link to them via a messaging app. The people selected can then watch your movements through the Google Maps app in real-time. As you might expect, you can also stop sharing the data at any time, and regardless of whether you have arrived at the destination or not.
It also seems this feature will be accessible via all methods of accessing Google Maps, including an Android smartphone, the mobile web, or even on desktop or a laptop. While Google has yet to provide an exact time as to when the ‘Share location’ feature will be made available to devices, generally speaking, once a feature like this has been announced, its availability typically follows soon afterwards. Either way, it will arrive as an over-the-air (OTA) update and once downloaded you will be able to use it immediately. This welcomed addition to Google Maps does nothing but make the app even better, as has many of the other new features that have come through recently.