Product Profile: Google Maps
INDUSTRY
transportation
Category
mapping and directions services
product Profiled
Google Maps apps and website
H-Score
60
ranked 10th of 18 within the transportation industry
ranked 20th of 76 overall
product description
Google Maps is a full-featured mapping and directions service, enabling search, directions, and real-time turn-by-turn directions. It offers directions for using cars, public transportation, walking, cycling, shared scooters from several companies and ride hailing. It includes real-time transit info throughout the US. Google Maps offers detailed information, including user reviews and photographs on businesses, institutions and other sights.
product use
Google Maps is available for use as a website; as an app for both Android and iOS mobile devices; and on smartwatches using Google’s WearOS and Apple’s WatchOS operating systems. It is also available through automobile infotainment systems that use Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. Users launch the app and can search for a type of destination (e.g. “food nearby”), or a specific destination. Once a destination has been determined, users can ask for directions, which will be offered for driving directions, walking directions, or transit directions. Once a user selects a destination and a route, they can execute directions and the app will offer turn-by-turn directions though both visual and verbal cues.
who’s affected
Google Maps is widely available and most often used on smartphones. Eighty-five (85) percent of US residents own smartphones, with ownership higher among younger and more affluent populations.(1)
influence on health-related behaviors
EATING
neutral to slight positive influence
Building H consumer research shows that 51% of mapping and directions app users use the apps to find a place to eat sometimes (34%), usually (10%) or always (6%),(2) so the apps influence eating to the extent that their search results lead users to healthy vs. less healthy food options.
If you search for nearby food on Google Maps, you will get a list of restaurants and grocery stores, which can be sorted by relevance or distance and then filtered by cuisine and a number of other attributes. “Healthy” is not one of the options, although “vegetarian options” is a secondary filter attribute. It suggests filters such as “Fast Food” and “Hamburger.”(3) (Researchers have found 70% of meals served at fast food restaurants to be of poor nutritional quality.(4)) However, you can search explicitly for “healthy food.” According to Google, Google Maps uses a variety of factors, such as relevance, distance and user opinions (from reviews and other mentions on the web) to generate search results from healthy foods.(5)
Google has partnered with selected supermarket chains to make the grocery store pickup process easier, letting people know when to leave and alerting the store with their ETA. They have also integrated information about grocery pickup and delivery in the stores’ business profiles. In this sense, they are facilitating access to fresh food.(6)
Google offers information on verified food banks in its Maps service, making it easier for people who are food insecure to locate food.(7)
- Work across the industry to pursue options to rate food establishments on the basis of how healthy their menus are and then integrate these ratings into search results. Options for this integration could include using the ratings to filter search results or to raise healthier establishments higher in result lists; or displaying the ratings in the results lists.
- When presenting directions, encourage people to stop and pick up fresh food by highlighting fresh food outlets that are on their way.
PHYSICAL ACTVITY
neutral to slight positive influence
The influence of Google Maps on physical activity stems from the degree to which its use leads to more adoption of active transportation modes -- cycling, walking, and, to a lesser degree, use of scooters and public transportation -- instead of automobile transportation.
In Building H consumer research, strong majorities of Americans say that mapping and directions apps do not lead to increases (74%) or decreases (84%) in their use of any transportation modes. However, 15% do report increased automobile use, versus only 5% who report decreased auto use.(8) The impact on usage of other transportation modes -- biking, walking, scooters and public transit was reported as neutral.
When a user asks for directions, Google selects an initial transportation mode and the user can select an alternative mode. Google selects this initial transportation mode through a machine learning model that’s based on multiple factors, including distance and users’ revealed preferences (i.e. the mode that a user typically chooses in similar situations).(9) To the extent that the transportation preferences for most Americans tend toward using automobiles for most trips,(10) including relatively short trips, basing recommendations on personal and community habits could reinforce unhealthy habits, biasing users to less active transportation modes.
Google Maps facilitates the use of automobiles by excelling at driving directions. It offers smooth experiences for both route planning and then driving, through turn-by-turn navigation. Google also has integrations with two parking app vendors, easing the payment process and improving the experience for drivers who need to arrange for parking.(11)
Google Maps offers granular detail of street features, like sidewalks, crosswalks and pedestrian islands, that could be helpful to pedestrians, cyclists and people riding scooters or wheelchairs. Google Maps also offers Live View, augmented reality turn-by-turn directions for pedestrians.
Google Maps offers a number of features to support cycling: its cycling directions are available throughout the US; it offers real-time info on availability of shared bikes; and it has information on route elevation, enabling users to select a less elevated route, if preferred. It also facilitates biking by providing audio cues for turn-by-turn directions.
Google Maps has also integrated with Lime, Spin and Bird, major providers of shared scooter services, to provide scooter-specific directions and information on locations and battery range of available scooters.
Google Maps includes a number of features that facilitate use of public transportation options within its directions service and offers real-time information on arrival times. It will also make predictions on how crowded arriving trains or buses will be. Google Maps users can pay for public transportation through Google Pay. In addition, Google Maps has added directions for multi-mode trips (e.g. bike share plus subway).
- Use defaults and recommended travel modes to shift social/behavioral norms toward greater use of active transportation modes, e.g. walking, biking, for trips of short distances (subject to weather conditions, individual abilities and other factors).
- Continue to improve the walking, bicycling, scootering and public transit user experiences.
- Offer experiential options such as “scenic route,” “nature route” or “social route” for walking and biking directions, as alternatives to the fastest routes.
Sleeping
neutral to slight positive influence
Google Maps has no obvious direct effects on sleeping, although to the extent that it influences physical activity and time spent outdoors, it could indirectly influence sleep as both of those behaviors are positively correlated with better sleep.
- Integrate neighborhood nighttime noise level information into maps.
Engaging Socially
neutral to slight positive influence
To the extent that Google Maps facilitates people leaving their homes by making it easier to get to places, it could lead to casual social interactions.
Google Maps has a robust Explore feature that includes user-generated suggestions for local activities and experiences.
- Create “social route” option (see above) that would increase casual social interactions among walkers and spontaneous drop-ins with friends. Social routes could be constructed from, for example, users’ contacts’ addresses or locations of popular gathering spots.
- Experiment with offering opportunities to provide feedback on public transportation rides, e.g. by rating experiences or reporting harassment or safety concerns.
- Experiment with offering opportunities to provide feedback on safety of walking and biking routes.
Getting Outdoors
slight positive influence
One could argue that mapping services by their very nature facilitate the action of leaving one’s home and going outside (with the significant exception of door-to-door car trips from one indoor experience to another).
All of the features that facilitate walking, biking, and (to a lesser extent) public transit facilitate spending more time outdoors.
Google Maps has a robust Explore feature that includes user-generated suggestions for local activities and experiences. It’s easy to search for parks, hiking and biking trails.
- Pursue opportunities for alternative routes (see above) that would encourage longer walks or bike rides.
Notes
Mobile Fact Sheet. Pew Research Center website. April 7, 2021.
Steve Downs. A Survey of Modern Life: Mobility. Building H on Medium. January 12, 2022.
Based on Building H user testing, November 2023.
Junxiu Liu et al. Quality of Meals Consumed by US Adults at Full-Service and Fast-Food Restaurants, 2003–2016: Persistent Low Quality and Widening Disparities. The Journal of Nutrition. Volume 150, Issue 4 (April 2020), pp. 873–883.
Google. Direct communication, December 30, 2021.
Cherlynn Low. Google Maps grocery pickup feature expands to 2,000 US stores. Engagdet. November 16, 2021.
Philipp Schindler. Find Food and Give Back - with Google. The Keyword (Google Blog). November 18, 2021.
Downs (2022).
Dane Glasgow. Redefining what a map can be with new information and AI. The Keyword (Google blog). March 30, 2021
Building H’s consumer research showed that a majority of users of mapping and directions services used automobiles for trips of less than one half mile. See Downs (2022).
Andrew J. Hawkins. Google Maps will now let you pay for public transportation and parking through its app. The Verge. February 17, 2021.