Much like a watched pot never boils, a friend you’re waiting for takes forever to arrive. If you’re going to meet a friend some place, and you’re driving there, chances are you get quite a few messages asking how much longer before you arrive. Google Maps has a new feature that lets you give your ETA to a friend so that you aren’t stuck answering texts about your current location. You can share trip progress in Google Maps with any friend and they will be able to tell, without messaging you, where you are.
Google Maps already has a feature that allows you to share your live location with friends however, it’s not the same as sharing your ETA which takes into account traffic conditions as well as your mode of transport.
To share your trip progress in Google Maps, make sure you’re running the latest version available and then open the app. Search for your destination and then use the Directions feature to start navigating to it. Once you’re in navigation mode, swipe up and a menu will appear. On this menu, tap the Share trip progress option.
Select a contact to share trip progress with from inside Google Maps, or use your preferred app for sharing your location.
This feature isn’t novel. In fact, ride sharing apps have this so that people can share a ride’s progress. It also gives you an ETA so you can tell when you will reach your destination. Google Maps gives you those same features for when you’re driving yourself, or if you’re taking public transport, or if you’re walking the whole way.
Using this feature will consume your battery and of course, Google Maps will need to access your location constantly and that is a sort of bump in the road with this feature. The feature is great if you’re driving and can connect your phone to a power source in the car but if you’re using any other means of transport where a charging point isn’t available, this battery hungry app will drain your device.
Ride sharing apps aren’t different but they tend to drain your battery less than Google Maps does. If you have an older phone, you might just be better off using other apps to share your location. If your friends are also iPhone owners, you can share your location over iMessages and it will not drain your battery as much.
