Avoid Long Queues with Google’s ‘Popular Times’ Feature

Google loves innovation! The developers at the company often come up with features that are helpful to make life easier.

The newly launched ‘Popular Times’ is one such feature using which you can know if a particular place is crowded at a specific time.

Users can now access this feature by using the Google apps on their Android phone. If you happen to own an iOS device, use the Safari app or the Chrome app to get the feature.

Imagine this situation! You really want to hang out with your friends at this popular restaurant after work. You start sending them messages, gather the team and reach the venue only to find that it is packed to the brim. It might be one of those disappointing moments which you can now avoid with the help of ‘Popular Times’.

Search for a specific location on the app. It could be anything from the local coffee shop to the bookstore or a shopping center. In the results page, click on the ‘more about’ icon and it will directly forward you to another page with a helpful information card. The card shows the hours during which they operate followed by a graph that displays their busiest hours.

google popular times

You will also find a drop down box using which you can select the day. It makes it easier to check if that elite pub you have always wanted to visit will be too crowded on a Saturday evening or not. Obviously, most places are crowded during weekends, but the feature is useful when it comes to sorting out the worst times to visit a location.

Google also receives real time data through smartphones that have GPS enabled in them. When a large number of people are heading to the same venue, it will automatically be updated in their database and the information will be shared on the card. The feature comes in handy if you are planning to go to a concert, but like to know the best time to start to avoid traffic jam and long lines.

The information was revealed by Google in their official blog. Some people appreciated the effort, while others are not so happy with it. Whatever be the criticism, Google is not going to give up and will continue to innovate, one feature after the other. They just love to experiment and history proves that some of their crazy ideas have paved the way for the betterment of the world of technology.

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