New Tool from Google Helps You Dodge the Rush

Google quietly announced this summer that they have developed an innovative way to help you avoid standing in long lines for food and coffee. Google now has a hack in their “location card” section of Google maps that will not only give you the hours and description of the restaurant or coffee shop, but it will also tell you what is considered the most “popular time” to go there. During these hours you should avoid your favorite restaurants due to high traffic and long wait times.

Some of this information should be a no-brainer. If it’s Sunday morning, chances are your local breakfast spot is going to be packed. The same goes for Saturdays and holidays. This app will come in handy on those days when your favorite diners get mysteriously busy at random times. Google will track the traffic in and out of restaurants to give you a better idea of breakfast, lunch and dinner rush trends, and on what days they occur and at what times. This way you can plan out your dining and coffee experience, with little wait involved. This is an invaluable tool if you are trying to meet up with friends but are on a time crunch, or if you are on your lunch break and need to get back within the hour.

This feature could really come in handy if you are going on a blind date with someone you met online; you can just find out where you are going and check to see if it’s going to be busy. Looking ahead will allow you to plan on going somewhere else instead and that will cut down on that awkward small talk that occurs when you have a long wait for a table. Instead of specific times, Google provides a moving graph depicting when there is the most foot traffic. You can just glance at the graph and know when to go and when to avoid the place altogether.

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