Maps can estimate when a store is likely to be at peak busyness.
It’s unlikely that this will be available for every location on the planet. If you live in a large city where Maps has access to enough real-time information. Your mealtime decisions may get a whole lot easier. There’s also a spot for you to update the information if Maps doesn’t have it quite right. This feature lets you check in to find out how long people will typically stay at that venue.
Also, it adds extra detail for stores that might have separate hours for different departments. This way, you won’t show up when a store is open. Only to find the hardware section closed two hours ago.
All of the features are rolled to the Maps search. Which means they’ll be going live through a server-side switch. You probably won’t need to update your apps, though it can’t hurt to ensure you have the latest version of Maps search.
The impact on you: Maps is already the perfect companion for hitting the town. But these features come at the right time for the upcoming holiday season. If you like to dive into such products, it’ll be interesting to see just how accurate the data is. The question is whether it can tell you the current state of crowds while you’re out and about.