I’m a passenger traveling on the highway.
I want to see a live map of my vehicle’s location.
The current speed would be a nice feature.
I’ve seen YouTube car revivals and the driver uses GPS to check speed. The 50 year old speedometer is usually broken.
Knowing my location would be helpful planning upcomining Exits for fuel and restaurants.
Google Maps isn’t helpful.. i only see a map of the entire US.
I do this in the map app (see what I did there?) on my phone. It shows the route with a little moving icon of my car all in real time.
Something is wrong with your Google Maps app. Many people use it for navigating just in the way you desribe. Have you tried zooming in on the location?
I haven’t entered a route. My Garmin shows my car on a route.
I was hoping Maps could show live location at anytime. Not just when I’m following a planned route.
I often don’t enter routes if its an easy drive.
My drive to Memphis is jumping on I40 for 2 hours.
Do you have location turned on? Check your settings and choose Google location settings.
This is likely the first problem for the OP to address. Google Maps is incredibly helpful for what the OP is looking for, but only if you’ve allowed it to access your GPS data (i.e., “location services”).
Google maps shows location, but for driving, or riding, I really like the Waze App. It shows location on a zoom-able maps, but it also shows hazards such as stopped vehicles, slow traffic as well as other hazards. Shows speed as well as time to arrival if you’ve input a destination.
That fixed it. I hit the Gear, Apps, Maps. Location had to be enabled. Only while using the App.
Very counterintuitive. Maps sort of needs location to do its job.
Thanks Everyone. Maps is working great. I can see the restaurants up ahead.
I’ll look into Waze.
Ever since Google bought Waze 12 years ago, there’s no meaningful difference between the Google Maps application on a phone and the Waze app on the same phone.
Really? I’ll have to make a comparison. I use Google maps for general “how far is it” type stuff, but Waze to actually drive. I’ll compare later today.
Waze will show you way more traffic information than Maps. Like where cops have been spotted, lane closures and vehicles on the side of the road. Also, you can report these and other things in WAZE but not in Maps, at least not where I have found.
Maps is starting to give out some information, but its not nearly as detailed as WAZE. I prefer WAZE.
Maps has all those features. At least the version on my Android does.
I’ve never had a Garmin although I’ve used one in a rental car. What we do have is its competitor, TomTom. Our TomTom GPS shows our location regardless of whether we’ve entered a destination or chosen a route to get to it. Seems like a Garmin oughta do so likewise, if not necessarily by default.
Hmm, my Maps doesn’t show you where the cop was spotted, Maps just tells you there is a cop ahead. And where in Maps do you report things you see? Not saying it doesn’t, just asking.
As far as I can tell Maps is gleaning general infomation from WAZE.
It’s not counterintuitive because some people just use the map as a map and don’t need it jumping to their current location. Plus, it was probably you denied that app access to your location the first time you used it on this phone. You probably would’ve been prompted again to allow access to your location data again if you asked it for driving directions starting at your ‘current location’.
Waze, or any other app like it for that matter, will also require you to give it permission to access your location data.
It still needs your permission.
Some people have Maps installed but don’t use it (e.g., it came preinstalled). Those people would appreciate location access being denied.
Opt-in is a commendable approach to application permissions.
I get that in Maps too. Location, specific to the road ahead.
But can you report them like you can do in WAZE? Where do you think that google Maps is getting the information from about where cops are sitting in real time? Or if there is an object in the road, in real time. I have seen Maps actually show me where the cop is sitting (WAZE uses an icon).
Becasue in WAZE the actual drivers report these things. Without WAZE then Google Maps would need for users to input these, and they don’t. In fact, Maps is missing a lot of information that WAZE provides.
Yes you can. There’s a button on the screen that appears when you’re doing turn by turn instructions, looks like a yellow triangle with a plus sign, you touch that to report things.
I don’t know how to attach a photo or I would show a screenshot.
Ah, thats what I was looking for. Thanks.
I always thought of WAZE as being a beta version of the next Goggle Maps version. It’s much more cluttered than Maps, which makes sense.