Two months after launching trip planning for Android, and a month after launching trip planning for iOS — Google has now launched trip planning for desktop devices.
Until now, Maps on desktop provided users with a limited set of information. Maps has been lagging behind its mobile counterparts, which both offer the ability to plan for multiple stops in one trip.
Trip planning has caught up to desktop. It works by first entering a location, such as a continent, city, or state you’re thinking about visiting. You’ll now see a ‘Plan a Trip’ section in the knowledge graph panel, which contains information about weather, flight durations, popular points of interest, and so on.
Clicking on the link to the ‘travel guide’ is where things really get interesting. From there you will get even more information about the destination, including pre-planned itineraries so you don’t miss your favorite attractions.
The trip planner even has a bar graph which combines flight and hotel prices together, so you can estimate how much your trip will cost on a given date.
Google Maps is finally bringing some of its best features to desktop, showing that desktop is still a priority for a company that’s increasingly becoming more mobile.
All screenshots taken 9/14/16 by author
