Published Oct 23, 2026, 4:31 PM EDT

A Computer Engineer turned tech-savvy. Sanya is part of the How to Geek team, and she covers Android, Samsung, Google, apps, and everyday technology, combining hands-on experience with thorough research. She helps readers understand technology without getting lost in technical jargon.

Hands up if you use Google Maps almost every day. Yep, same here. Between grocery runs, long drives with my husband, and picking up my daughter from school, I open it so often that I assumed I knew all the useful bits.

Turns out, I was barely scratching the surface.

I recently stumbled across a few features I’d completely overlooked because I was too busy searching for destinations and checking traffic.

Here are five Google Maps features to make the app more useful than ever.

This Maps trick is clever

I just point my camera at my surroundings

I taught this trick to my mom because she often spots shops or cafés she’d like to visit but doesn’t know their names.

Instead of asking me to…