Google Maps now makes it easier than ever to find a place to park

Google said today that its Maps app for iPhone and iPad now makes it easier to find a place to park by showing you parking garages and lots in 25 cities throughout the United States.

To find a parking spot near your destination, tap on a newly added Find Parking link on your Directions card to pull up a list of the available parking garages and lots in your vicinity.

The selected option is automatically added to your trip and you’ll even receive walking directions from your chosen parking spot to the final destination. You can also save your parking location on the map, just like before.

This feature is available in the following 25 cities in the US:

  • Atlanta
  • Boston
  • Charlotte
  • Chicago
  • Cleveland
  • Dallas/Fort Worth, DC
  • Denver
  • Detroit
  • Houston
  • Los Angeles
  • Miami
  • Minneapolis/St. Paul
  • New York City
  • Orlando
  • Philadelphia
  • Phoenix
  • Pittsburgh
  • Portland
  • San Diego
  • Sacramento
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • St. Louis
  • Tampa

The parking difficulty icons which launched on Google Maps earlier this year—ranging from limited to medium to easy—make it easy to actually see how hard it might be to park where you’re headed. To use this feature, get directions to your destination and look for the parking difficulty icon in the directions card at the bottom of the screen.

The parking difficulty icons are available internationally in these cities:

  • Alicante
  • Amsterdam
  • Copenhagen
  • Barcelona
  • Cologne
  • Darmstadt
  • Dusseldorf
  • London
  • Madrid
  • Malaga
  • Manchester
  • Milan
  • Montreal
  • Moscow
  • Munich
  • Paris
  • Prague
  • Rio de Janeiro
  • Rome
  • Sao Paulo
  • Stockholm
  • Stuttgart
  • Toronto
  • Valencia
  • Vancouver

Google is using historical parking data and machine learning magic to improve the accuracy and reliability of the parking difficulty icons over time.

Download Google Maps at no charge from App Store.