Photo: Nicolas McComber/Getty Images; Google
Google Maps has added a new feature for Android users that gives provides an estimate for how bad parking will be once they arrive at their destination.
The new feature, currently available in 25 cities in the United States, is easy to use.
Enter the address of your destination into maps, and a parking difficulty icon will pop up at the bottom of the screen, with a range from "easy" to "medium" to "limited."
If the icon says easy, you'll know you don't need a lot of extra time. If it says limited, however…
The parking information is pulled using historical parking data, similar to the way Google tracks its Popular Times and Visit Duration information.
"Factoring in time for parking can make or break a night out, let alone making it to that big meeting on time," product manager Jeff Albertson wrote on the Google blog. "We've introduced a new parking difficulty icon in Google Maps for Android that'll give you a heads up on what kind of parking crunch to prepare for when you're on the go.
The parking difficulty feature is currently available in the following cities: San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Portland, Seattle, Phoenix, Denver, Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, Minneapolis/St. Paul, St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Boston, New York City, Washington D.C., Charlotte, Atlanta, Tampa, Orlando, and Miami.
