Googlejust unveiled a new search feature that can help users to know whether the place they want to go is likely to be crowded at a specific time, and can even break down a place’s popularity on several days on a week. Users only need to use Google’s search engine to search for a particular place and then click on the name of the place they are looking for to see all the essential details, such as address, phone number, and open hours. When having all the information needed, Google also shows the “popular times” for the particular business. Furthermore, when a certain business is at its busiest, that information is highlighted and is accompanied with a bar chart that allows users to scroll through day by day.
This specific information is considered by Google to be especially useful for those who are trying to avoid the crowds when visiting a specific place, like when they simply want to hit the gym, go out for a coffee or even go out to do some grocery shopping. The main important idea of this app is allowing users to have the chance to better plan their time in order to avoid “rush hours” whenever it’s possible. A general tip was also given by the company that was for those who don’t like to work out in front of other people should avoid hitting the gym after work on Mondays, since that’s the day when everyone is trying to burn off weekend calories.
Google showed as an example how popular the “Blue Bottle Coffee” in Brooklyn, New York City, was on Fridays and Saturdays versus other days of the week, and how much foot traffic often increased during the late morning to afternoon hours.
In the past, it was already shown by Google that the company is able to collect data from users of itsGoogle Maps applicationin order to anonymously inform Google of things like traffic patterns and conditions.
What’s empowering the new Google app is the ability toaggregate informationfrom the busiest times of the week of “millions” of places and businesses all around the world, and being accessible directly from Google Search on all mobile phones with Internet connection. The feature just started to roll out this week and it’s not yet universal across locations or platforms.
