After launching their feature to make parking easier to find in the US earlier this year, Google has rolled out the feature even further to countries outside the US, but it’s still not in Australia.
Google uses historical parking data and machine learning to gauge parking difficulty at a location you want to travel to. The parking difficulty icon will appear in Google Maps for Android and iOS once you enter your destination in 25 cities across South America, the UK and more European countries. The complete list of new cities includes:
Alicante, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Cologne, Darmstadt, Dusseldorf, London, Madrid, Malaga, Manchester, Milan, Montreal, Moscow, Munich, Paris, Prague, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Sao Paulo, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Toronto, Valencia, Vancouver.
Google is also helping US residents to find parking. The feature is only available for Android, and only available in 25 cities so far. Once you enter your destination users ‘can tap “find parking” on the directions card to see a list of parking garages and lots near their destination’. The feature uses the multiple destination option to add the parking garage or lot to your directions.
We’re still waiting for either feature to make it here in Australia, but the fact it’s being rolled out to countries outside the US is promising. Hopefully it won’t take too long for it to arrive.
