Google Maps for iPhone — “This is one of those super useful features that makes you wonder how it wasn’t there from the get-go,” writes The Verge.
“You’ll already be familiar with live traffic and transit info inside Google Maps, but now you can also share your commutes straight to your Timeline, giving friends (and law enforcement) a solid alibi in case anyone asks where you were.”
- What Auto Park Memory Is and How It Works on iOS
- What Drivers Should Know About Google Maps Parking Pins
- Customization and Small Touches That Improve Clarity
- Privacy and Control Options for Google Maps Parking
- How It Compares to Apple Maps and Android Features
- Quick Start Tips for Using Automatic Parking Memory
Source: TIME.com. Published on: February 4, 2019 | Last Updated: February 4, 2019, 3:34 PM EST. Google Maps for iPhone just picked up a deceptively simple feature.
The app will now remember where you parked automatically, tapping a precise pin labeled “You parked here” as soon as you stop driving and disconnect from your car. The update was confirmed by a Google Maps product lead and reported by industry watchers at MacRumors. It’s also now rolling out more broadly to iOS users.
The feature basically uses Maps’ older manual “Save parking” function in an automated way. It’s a small shift with an outsize effect. INRIX studies and other research have long revealed that drivers waste a lot of time looking for parking, and research made famous by UCLA’s Donald Shoup has suggested that cruising for spots reveals its share of urban congestion. Anything that shaves minutes off that last-mile scramble is significant, at scale.
What Auto Park Memory Is and How It Works on iOS
The feature employs a straightforward trigger: When your iPhone is connected to your car through CarPlay, Bluetooth, or USB during a drive, Google Maps records the session. Once you have parked and disconnected, the app will automatically drop a parking pin labeled “You parked here.” Drive again and the pin is gone — no cleanup needed.
You don’t even need CarPlay for this to work — a plain old Bluetooth connection to your stereo will do the trick.
Prefer more control? You can still manually mark a “Save parking” spot, where you set the time on the meter, add notes, or snap a photo of nearby landmarks. Tapping the automatic pin reveals options to edit or navigate back to your car.
What Drivers Should Know About Google Maps Parking Pins
Parking is an ongoing pain in the ass. Between stadium lots and airport garages, it’s easy to mess up the memory of your floor, aisle, or street segment — especially after a long day or night. With over a billion people using Google Maps every month, improvements of any size have a big impact on relief from life’s time- and budget-impacting irritants. And since more than 90 percent of new vehicle models sold in the U.S. are compatible with CarPlay, at least according to Apple, that automatic trigger will work for most iPhone-toting drivers without the need for any new hardware.
The most concrete payoff is time: less wandering in circles, fewer texts with your location, and fewer snaps of garage pillars that you’ll never have to scroll through again. And for street parking, pin accuracy can also help you understand and abide by alternate-side rules or prevent meter creep by knowing precisely where you parked in the first place.
Customization and Small Touches That Improve Clarity
Google also tweaked the visuals. If you’ve set a custom vehicle avatar within Google Maps, that icon now denotes your parking spot instead of it just defaulting to a generic “P.” It’s small, but it makes the pin easy to spot when glancing at the map.
To change your car to a cat or even a hot dog, click on the arrow when you are in navigation mode and select a “symbol” like you would pick any other point of interest. If you prefer parking meter reminders, or if you want to collect written level and row numbers next to mapped locations, the manual “Save parking” sheet is available for adding notes, photos, and timers in addition to the automatic pin as well!
Privacy and Control Options for Google Maps Parking
The parking pin is derived from a local connection event and clears itself as you drive away. For more elaborate location controls, Google offers an opt-in feature known as Location History that can be set to automatically delete on a rolling schedule. You can always turn off location permissions, disable Bluetooth for Maps, or unlink CarPlay if you don’t want the feature to activate.
Accuracy depends on iOS permissions. If you have restricted Maps to “While Using the App,” background features such as auto parking pins may be less reliable. Making sure Bluetooth is turned on, and that Maps has permission to use motion detection, can also help.
How It Compares to Apple Maps and Android Features
Apple Maps has had a “Parked Car” marker for years, using CarPlay or Bluetooth disconnects. The new Google Maps behavior is a welcome development for iPhone users who like the look of Apple’s maps but prefer Google’s routing, live traffic, and search depth. Android owners may recognize this feature in several different manifestations, but this adds to the iOS user experience the uniformity and integration it seemingly always lacked.
Quick Start Tips for Using Automatic Parking Memory
Update Google Maps on your iPhone, make sure either Bluetooth or CarPlay is enabled in your car, then drive to your destination as you normally would. Once you have parked and disconnected, search the map for the “You parked here” pin. Tap it to edit details or go back. If the pin doesn’t show up, head to Maps and go through its Bluetooth and location permissions, motion access permission, whether you’re signed in with your Google account, and such.
It’s a tiny thing, but one that removes a daily friction point. Now with automatic parking memory, Google Maps for iOS feels a little bit more akin to a co-pilot and slightly less like your friendly neighborhood “ignore” reminder to meander around the lot pushing your key fob.
