Google has expanded its Ask Maps service, introducing new agentic capabilities and personalised recommendations that integrate Gmail and Google Calendar data, offering users an enriched and more intuitive navigation experience in select countries.
Google is expanding Ask Maps with more agentic features, pushing the service beyond basic place search and towards tasks such as ordering food, booking hotels and finding event tickets. In the latest update, users in the US can type or say requests in natural language, such as asking for vegan avocado toast and an oat milk latte near home, and Maps will surface matching restaurants and hand off to supported partners including Square, Toast or Uber Eats for checkout. The company says the same approach can also point users to nearby concerts, comedy shows and other local activities with ticket links.
The move builds on Google’s earlier Gemini integration for Maps, which introduced Ask Maps in March as a conversational way to handle more complex queries than a standard search. Reporting at the time said the feature could answer location-based questions and tailor results using places a person had searched for or saved, while Google also paired it with Immersive Navigation, a 3D route view that shows buildings, overpasses and terrain.
Google is also adding what it calls Personal Intelligence, allowing Ask Maps to use information from Gmail and Google Calendar to make recommendations that reflect travel plans and bookings. That means a user could ask for food and entertainment ideas near a hotel and receive suggestions shaped by upcoming trips or reservations, while the system can also remember earlier conversations. Google says the feature is off by default and requires opt-in access to Gmail and Calendar data, a safeguard that may reassure privacy-conscious users.
Alongside the personalised layer, Google is rolling out real-time transit information that can flag traffic, road closures, construction and accidents, as well as how busy a restaurant, cafe or shop is. According to Google, the personalised version of Ask Maps is being introduced in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Japan and Mexico, as well as in more than 150 countries and territories in English. The food-ordering and other agentic functions are currently limited to users in the US.
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