The best Google Maps feature has nothing to do with Gemini or navigation — it’s this

Google Maps is the go-to navigation app for many of us, and back in the day, even Apple failed to make a viable alternative. With Google Maps being the popular and default option, naturally, people are always searching for alternatives. Apple Maps is a big one, and Google's own Waze is another. Sometimes, apps reach a dominant foothold because they really are that good, and I think that's true of Google Maps.

Google Maps has one feature that no other navigation app can match: its users. Over two billion people use Google Maps each month, and that's estimated to be double the user base of Apple Maps. Google's users are also more active — they leave ratings, capture photos, and write reviews that inform the place cards you see on Maps. I use this crowdsourced data to plan every trip and daily outings, and it's why I'll never leave Google Maps completely.

There's one Maps feature I can't live without

No other navigation app matches Google's reviews and photos

The usual reasons for preferring Google Maps over the alternatives are things you'd expect, like navigation routing or Gemini integration. None of those reasons were what pushed me to stick with Google Maps after trying Apple Maps and Waze. The latter two apps didn't come close to providing the same level of crowdsourced information as Google Maps.

When I look for a coffee shop or dinner spot, I use navigation apps to get the lay of the land, figure out the parking situation, or see what the indoor seating is like. Place cards — these are the cards that pop up when you tap on a place or point of interest in Google Maps — help me find this information and then some. Tapping a place card reveals everything you need to know about a business, landmark, or public space.

Usually, place cards on Google Maps are talked about in a negative light, because some of them are ads. If you see a square pin while browsing Google Maps, it's an ad. These location pins are square and include a company logo only because advertisers paid Google to promote them. You'll see sponsored search results in Google Maps, too.

Ads are a somewhat unfortunate part of using Google Maps, but they shouldn't take away from the helpfulness of place cards in general.

Filter, sort, and search Maps reviews to save time

If you have a question, it's probably answered in a review

Place cards aren't a new concept, or one that's exclusive to Google Maps. However, they're better on Google Maps because no other platform has a base of monthly users even capable of sniffing Google's. Apple Maps offloads user reviews and ratings to Yelp, which is fine, but I don't want to have to use two apps when one (Google Maps) would do.

By now, I'm sure you know that place cards in Google Maps include ratings and reviews. You may not know all the ways you can use those reviews to your advantage when making plans. Find a place you might want to visit in Google Maps, and then switch to the Reviews tab. You'll see a summary put together with Gemini, but you should probably ignore it.

Instead, you should tap the Search button and enter a keyword related to the question you have. If you want to know more about the vibe, you could search for "indoor seating." If you want to learn about the parking available, you could search for "parking" to see whether there's lot parking, street parking, or no parking. You'll see reviews related to your search topic in the results, and you can comb through them to find the answer.

Filters help you sort by Newest, Highest, Lowest, or Most relevant reviews. Topics are there to highlight the most common talking points found in user reviews. For example, the Google Maps place card for my local coffee shop lists lake view as a topic because reviews mentioned it 117 times.

You can use this data to your advantage. If you see something mentioned tens or hundreds of times in Google Maps reviews, you can trust them. Another complaint only mentioned once or twice could be more easily attributed to a fluke than a pattern. While websites and place cards often have incomplete or outdated information, searching and sorting Google Maps reviews gives me a sense of what a business is actually like.

Gemini is fine, but I'll stick with human reviews

AI review summaries in Google Maps won't understand nuance

Gemini integration in Google Maps isn't a replacement for searching, filtering, and sorting user reviews. While the assistant can certainly summarize the user reviews, it can't properly understand them.

Here's what I mean — when you read a review of a business written by a human, you can tell whether the customer or business is in the right. It's just a feeling, and that feeling helps us sort out the junk reviews from the helpful ones. That's why searching for user-written reviews is a better strategy than trusting an AI assistant like Gemini. You know whether a Google Maps review seems fair or if something sounds off, but Gemini doesn't.

I don't always use Google Maps for navigation, because Apple Maps or my in-car navigation app are comparable. The one thing every Google Maps competitor lacks is an active community of real reviewers, and they're what keeps Google Maps in my pocket.