“What potential improvements would you do to Google Maps to improve the engagement?”
Google Maps is a de-facto navigational tool that is used across the world for finding the way, and exploring neighborhoods and places.
I am going to list the problems that are encountered by travelers using Google Maps.
I love traveling, and I feel that there are many examples of when existing travel experiences are sub-par. Many people are using many different applications to plan their travels, and they have to go through the complicated and confusing interfaces. This is why some people go for cruises and tours - as you don’t really need to have efforts in planning. I hope that my ideas and suggestions could provide the better experience in travel planning.
I would like to increate the value proposition of using Google Maps for planning trips and travel for the users, thus driving the engagement of users with travel planning features. Also, I would discuss potential integrations with other Google services, as well as data sources that would be beneficial to the suggested problems.
Usually, travelers have at least a certain level of disposable income, and they go through the relatively similar steps and problems in planning the trips. However, each person would have different preferences in desired experiences, as well as potential spending.
Potential target addressable market for this solution would include both domestic and international travelers.
Use Cases
The typical user journey for planning a travel looks like this:
Research possible experiences at the place -> Select desired experiences -> Research & book flights + hotels -> Pack -> Travel
Here are some possible problems at each step:
Research experiences:
Find some things to do that are interesting for me
Find some things that are relevant to places I am going to visit
Compare different experiences
Review the locations that are involved
Review transportation modes
Compare the availability dates
Compare prices
Create a plan of places to visit and things to do
Select desired experiences:
Book events, tickets
Plan road trips
Ensure no overlap
Research& book flights + hotels
Select best flights & hotels from the following perspectives:
Price
Loyalty rewards
Convenience
Luxury desires
Ensure that flights & hotels allow us to experience everything we want from this trip
Book flights & hotels
Apply loyalty rewards & points
Pack
Create a packing list
Ensure that I have everything for my selected experiences & locations
Pack clothes for the weather
Pack luggage
Travel
Follow the created plan - always have it on hand
Research some places on the way
Navigate the traveled area
Make adjustments to the plan if necessary
Potential Solutions
From experience research side, I would suggest the following possible solutions:
Use Explore Nearby section when exploring other cities to display data from Google Trips
Filter data based on my profile (income level, age, interests)
Potentially, display the information on the map
Display prices and dates from the trip
Display upcoming trips (as detected in Gmail) in Google Maps - already doing that for hotels.
Display suggested events (e.g. hikes, trails, museums, concerts) based on the relevancy.
Provide additional details on each of the experiences
Display events from the location when exploring - use web search results.
Display select trips from experience providers
Possibly: create 2-sided marketplace for experiences with experience providers
Parse information from advertisement boards
When selecting experiences, the following solutions would be helpful:
Integration with ticketing tools to create Google-managed store
Link to 3-party websites for orders.
Integrate with email to track events booked outside of our solution
Calendar integration to avoid overlap. Display a link to Google Calendar when booking experiences.
Booking flights & hotels could be solved in the following ways:
Integration with Google Flights to allow users to search and book the flights. Could be done via App links to open details in an App, if available, or in a browser.
Could be displayed as 1 line with the price and link on the updated Explore tab.
Display hotel prices and reviews on the map - we could get data from hotels themselves, as well as from Expedia/other existing sources. Already doing that.
Filter by user’s past visits and profile to display relevant hotels
Display bookings as captured in Gmail (already doing that)
Allow users to filter by loyalty rewards. - potentially, in Google Maps settings allow selecting preferred rewards to display first.
Creating a packing list - could be displayed as a separate application, with the link from our updated Google Maps
Recommend users to bring items based on:
Location
Weather
Selected events
User profile
Populate based on past user’s trips. If a user has visited the same location - display
Display advertisements and links to stores. Potential integration with Google Search advertisements, as well as Google Shopping search.
Travel suggestions
Track the trip based on time, location - automatically mark certain events as completed, allow users to navigate the
Display the necessary information at hand, in offline mode. We could potentially utilize Google Maps offline, and automatically load offline maps for the areas of travel.
Allow users to switch between trip and navigation/search modes - UI should be unobtrusive.
Update the trip based on the changes by parsing emails for booking/reservation changes.
Solutions Prioritization
I would prioritize solutions based on the suitability to user goals, as well as the potential benefits from integrating with other tools. User’s goal is to find and plan trips as unobtrusively and conveniently as possible. And the solutions that are aligned with this goal are:
Experience research
— Explore feature update for cases when navigating other cities and countries
This feature would utilize the data that Google has in Explore + information from Google Trips.
Google would need to display information that is relevant to the user based on the profile, and allow users to see all the suggested trips on the map as layers.
Selecting experience
—Links to 3-party websites, and track booked trips via email receipts.
Booking flights
—In the updated “Explore” section display a 1 line for Google Flights from users’ current location to the destination