Why you’re crazy if you travel without using ChatGPT and this new Google Maps AI feature
Before the age of generative AI, I used to rely on Google search whenever I had to travel. I'd look up information about the neighborhood I was staying in, load public transit sites, and read about local attractions I might want to visit. All of this took quite a while, and I'd end up saving information from my searches so I could revisit it later. That included screenshots, which I'd sometimes forget about.
Now that AI chatbots exist, I simply go to ChatGPT and ask all the questions I have about a new place I'm visiting. The best example is using ChatGPT Deep Research to plan an efficient trip to Tokyo after I attended the marathon.
I say "efficient" because I wanted to see as much as possible while also giving my legs time to recover. Fast access to public transit, short walking distances, and grouping attractions by neighborhood were top priorities.
I also had separate chats with ChatGPT about local transit, airports, shopping, internet access, and everything else I needed to know about Tokyo before I arrived. All of them were neatly saved in a folder inside ChatGPT, which I kept coming back to on my iPhone and Mac.
This new system saved me a lot of time compared to the old Google search-based travel planning. There's no question I'll use a chatbot like ChatGPT every time I plan a trip.
But one thing was missing from my Tokyo museum planning chat with ChatGPT: navigation. At the end of the day, I still had to copy and paste addresses from ChatGPT into Google Maps, my go-to navigation app on my iPhone. I know it's a first-world problem, having to switch between two apps to enjoy my travels. Still, it's a nuisance.
Thankfully, there's a fix for that, and it's coming from Google Gemini. Google Maps just got a smart new AI feature that I'll use every time I plan a trip with ChatGPT. Thanks to Gemini, Google Maps can now understand screenshots and extract location information from them.
The post Why you’re crazy if you travel without using ChatGPT and this new Google Maps AI feature appeared first on BGR.
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Why you’re crazy if you travel without using ChatGPT and this new Google Maps AI feature originally appeared on BGR.com on Thu, 8 May 2025 at 06:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.