Have you ever driven through a neighborhood you weren't familiar with as you looked for a house or business address? We all have at one point or another. It's not easy – you're driving slowly, avoiding parked cars, searching for the house number and street names. Your focus isn't 100% on the road, where it should be.
Compare that experience to driving in a neighbourhood that you are familiar with. It's dramatically different! You can confidently navigate the area and your focus is more safely on the road.
Google Maps can help you be a safer driver by turning even the most unfamiliar neighbourhoods into familiar ones.
Google Maps is more than just a 2-dimensional map – like what drivers used to use to plot a course whenever they wanted to go somewhere. Google Maps offers an even better way to plan ahead! That's because Google Maps gives you an interactive 3-dimensial view of your journey and destination! It allows you to plot our course and see what the surroundings are like before you actually go there!
Here's how it can help: If you are traveling somewhere you've never been before, use Google Maps to view the area first. See what your destination address looks like (so you don't have to take your eyes of the road to squint at house numbers). Watch for one-way streets, left turns across busy roads, unusual street configurations that will make it challenging to get around, and even look for parking before you leave your house!
Here's how to do it, step-by-step:
Go to Google Maps (http://maps.google.com) and type in your destination. Google will reveal the 2-dimensional map of where your destination address is.
Next, get Google Maps Street View. (See the vertical line on the left of the map that you can use to zoom in and out? At the top of that vertical line is a little orange "man". Click that orange human figure and drag it with your mouse to the point that Google indicates on the map as your destination. If Google has taken 3-D pictures of the area, the 2-D map will be replaced with a 3-D version of the address… as if you were standing on the street and looking around.
You can turn 360 degrees, you can move up and down the street, you can see street names and number and house addresses and watch for landmarks. And all of this is a way to drive more safely, especially in neighborhoods you're not familiar with.
Of course, Google Maps won't reveal changes that have occurred since the pictures were taken – such as road construction or if the house changed colour. But for the most part, you'll recognize the area and drive more safely because of it.
