How To Avoid Busy Area By Using Google's 'Busyness' Feature Explained

Do you ever find yourself in a crowded area and feel like you just can't take it anymore? Google has your back! The search engine giant has released its 'Busyness' feature that helps you avoid areas with large numbers of people. In this article, we will provide an overview of the 'Busyness' feature.

Google stresses the importance of user privacy and does not use data from residential locations like homes and apartments to determine levels of activity in an area. Instead, it turns to places like stores, restaurants, parks, cafes, etc. to ascertain the overall level of hustle and bustle. When an area is at its peak activity level, it is highlighted as a 'Busy Area' on Google Maps.

Google utilizes anonymized and summarized user data that have granted permission to Google Location History to determine peak times, wait periods, and the duration of visits. Provided that the business receives enough visits from these users, details of popular times, wait times, and visit duration are displayed. Google utilizes differential privacy to ensure that busyness data cannot be linked to a particular individual. If the details are insufficient to generate valid trends, Google will not be displaying the busyness indicator.

People interested in visiting a public area such as a museum can use Google Maps to check the busyness of the area at different times of the day and plan their outing accordingly. Additionally, those looking for a bustling marketplace or the like can use the same feature to identify where the most people are at. All they need to do is tap on the area in Google Maps to view its busyness trend.