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Google Maps Unveils 4 Major Updates for European Commuters

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Google has announced four Maps updates across Europe designed to reduce reliance on driving and promote sustainable transportation choices.

Google-maps-feaure.jpg

Google says it's expanding its AI-powered alternative transport suggestions to Copenhagen, Stockholm, Warsaw, and additional cities in the coming months. The feature predicts when walking or transit will match driving times, which aims to help users avoid car trips entirely.

Meanwhile, cyclists this summer are getting enhanced route details in 17 new European cities, including Hamburg, Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Rome, Zurich, Budapest, Vienna, and Brussels. The updates show dedicated bike lanes alongside existing warnings about traffic and steep hills, covering 125,000 kilometers of cycling infrastructure globally.

For necessary car journeys, Google says its fuel-efficient routing is now live worldwide. The company estimates this feature alone prevented 2.7 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2024, which is equivalent to removing over 630,000 cars from roads for a year.

The final update tackles low-emission zones and low-traffic zones. Over the coming months, Google says it will expand alerts for restricted areas to over 1,000 zones across Europe, including Italy, Sweden, and Austria. The notifications mean it's possible for drivers to check vehicle eligibility and find alternative routes when needed.

Since the end of March when Apple released iOS 18.4, iPhone users in the EU have been able to set Google Maps as their default navigation app, completely replacing Apple Maps. If you count yourself among them, perhaps the upcoming updates will improve your travels on the continent this summer.

Article Link: Google Maps Unveils 4 Major Updates for European Commuters
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/06/18/google-maps-rolls-out-4-major-updates-europe/
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A very nice addition, although I haven't used Google Maps in several years, I think 2019 was the last time I used it to navigate anywhere.

I generally don't need an AI to tell me when it is quicker to use public transport in a European city, 90% of the time it is quicker, certainly less stressful. I think I have driven the car into the city twice in the last 3 years.
 
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It's good to see Google keeping flagship features coming in for us Europeans, when Apple can't even gives us Siri in Hungarian, or an iOS keyboard, or multi language support, or working spellcheck, or translate, or Apple Intelligence, or Apple Maps that understands local street and city names, or Apple Maps that can pronounce them, or Apple Maps that does as much as to first try searching in the continent you're currently in and not some random small rural town in China. No wonder no one uses Apple Maps here.

Apple is okay selling their products here at twice the US price but they don't want to actually spend any resources to localize their services, when other non-premium companies have long done so. Google has had translation and street addresses in Hungarian since I believe 2007. That was 18 years ago. I would say Apple has a lot of catching up to do but they don't seem to have any intention of catching up.

I don't use Google Maps because I prefer to be tracked, I use it because Google has always been the first to localize and they have done a great job at it and providing support and feedback has always been possible. Apple Maps simply does not function here, it's complete garbage. I have no other choice.
 
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Despite people's complaint about privacy, I really do like Google Maps because of its very high level of accuracy in terms of maps. And it's really useful for looking up places you're going to.
 
I do everything in my power to avoid using any and all things Goophabet, from maps to search to C*rome to email (why the hell do people who have access to Apple Mail and other services use G*uckingmail???!!!).

Yes, I know Goophabet doesn't actually sell their users' personal information outright, though I suspect they do, but still, they profit off of their users' personal information. That is wrong on so many levels.

Then, there is the fact Go-ogle has a monopoly on search and controls access to information on the web. Themtube is also used to control information available to the public.

So, Goophabet gives me all sorts of reasons to avoid using their mapping spy apparatus.
 
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And if you get Mapy.com (just check the reviews), you get navigation for car, walk, bike and cross-country skiing, too. In addition to ski resorts maps, winter map, outdoor map...

And - unlike Apple Maps - you can choose manually any two points on the map and get the routes for all of the above means of transport.

Just saying... ;)
 
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Apple Maps needs to catch up to Google Maps badly in terms of public transit. In Paris last month, Apple Maps never gave the correct bus/metro/train options... but Google Maps always did. Paris! Not like some podunk town. So, here Google once again leapfrogs Apple... if only Apple had some cash reserves to invest... Oh wait...
 
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Good to know about it. Will try out the fuel efficient routing now that it is available everywhere.
 
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arkitect said:
Very welcome addition.
Too often you have no idea whether a road suggested is reasonably safe…
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totally agree - and sometimes it tries to take you down busy arterial road when there's cycling lanes that run pararell; or just routes with a load of twists/turns and you miss them as its hard to bike and watch your phone! (watch support on google is poor at best)
 
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MRrainer said:
Those Zero Emission Zones in Italy are tricky. The fines are very steep. And for a non-local, the signs don't mean anything at cursory glance.....
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Did a road trip to Strasbourg two years ago and found out the hard way that you need an emissions sticker for the car. This year I ordered one ahead of time. Great to see that Google Maps now warns you in advance.

And while we’re at it: it would be great if Google Maps could also stop Americans from driving straight into pedestrian zones here in Europe! Just flash a big fat NO when they try to enter a busy square that’s currently hosting a farmers market in their rental cars.
 
All-in-all, I much prefer paper maps for navigation, except for the last kilometer or so of my trip. Apple Maps, and I assume Goo*le Maps (because I've never used them), force me to trust their directions, because they make it difficult to get a bigger picture of where I am headed and what road or highway I'm on and will be on in the future.

Zoom out to get a big picture of where it is taking me, and the road identifiers disappear, along with smaller towns and villages. Zoom in to get more specific information, and the big picture disappears. With a paper map, all of the information on it is always available, no matter how much I focus on the small details or look at the map as a whole.

I was in Belgium this past winter after flying into Frankfurt, where I rented my car. I assumed I'd be able to get paper maps for driving, but the man at the counter told me he didn't know of any place to buy them at the airport. The car I received was a nice Audi A6 (I think). In my jet lagged fog, I could not figure out how to use CarPlay, so I resorted to using Maps on my iPhone. This was far from ideal because I had no good place to put it where it wasn't sliding around the console or falling off. I tried using the Audi's navigation system, but as far as I could tell, the only method of input was through voice. It was speaking to me in English, not German, so that wasn't a problem, but every time I spoke the name of my destination (in Belgium), it came up with locations in Russia, all over Germany, and no telling where else. In the 3 weeks I was in Belgium, I never got the Audi's system to work, but I did finally figure out how to get CarPlay to work.

Next time I go to Belgium, I am buying paper maps beforehand, so I can use them for my primary navigation and use the digital Maps for getting close-in directions.
 
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I used to use paper maps a lot to prep a trip. But, being on a motorbike, they weren't much use when actually on the road. I used a series of Post-Its with the names of the roads I needed to take, the big towns I needed to pass and where to turn off. The last card or two had the detailed information about where to turn left and right for the final couple of KM to the destination.

That got me from the UK to a small village in Provence and from the UK to Austria and Bavaria a couple of times. One thing I did learn on the first trip is, you can't use English maps, as the place names are often wrong and you'll never find them on roadsigns, you need the local language maps.
 
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Big_D said:
I used to use paper maps a lot to prep a trip. But, being on a motorbike, they weren't much use when actually on the road. I used a series of Post-Its with the names of the roads I needed to take, the big towns I needed to pass and where to turn off. The last card or two had the detailed information about where to turn left and right for the final couple of KM to the destination.

That got me from the UK to a small village in Provence and from the UK to Austria and Bavaria a couple of times. One thing I did learn on the first trip is, you can't use English maps, as the place names are often wrong and you'll never find them on roadsigns, you need the local language maps.
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I can certainly understand paper maps not being feasible for motorcycle travel. Post-it notes sound like a great idea.

In general, I have a good sense of direction, but when I'm followed orders from Maps, I feel lost and always behind the curve. It is unnerving.

As for the Audi (and it may have been an A8 wagon), its user interface was all done on a touchscreen, which is less efficient and more dangerous to use than physical knobs and buttons. The bottom screen, the one with heating / A/C and such, was a mess--far too many controls and not intuitive to use. The day I drove to Belgium, it was cold, and it took me forever to figure out exactly how to adjust the temperature.

One of the biggest pains was the car automatically blasting out a BONG!, BONG!, BONG! every time I went even 1km/hr over the speed limit. It wasn't just annoying, it created an adrenaline response, because I'm not used to a car making any noise at me unless there is some very important warning, like the engine overheating or tires dangerously low on air.
 
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