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The latest Google Maps update lets you customize your map like never before

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 9:03PM EST
Google Maps Custom Names

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If you’ve updated Google Maps on your Android device recently, you might have noticed a new feature that Google added to its mobile app. You can now edit the names of locations on the map, save them to your personal Google account and search for them the next time you’re out and about.

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This is useful for a number of reasons. If there’s a restaurant you’re ordering from but know you’ll never remember its name, just rename it to “Incredible Restaurant.” That’s a search term I’d remember more frequently than “Taverna Kyclades.”

You can also drop a pin in a location without a set name on Google Maps and give it a custom name. If your friend John’s apartment doesn’t show up on Google Maps, drop a pin and name it “John’s Apartment.”

Here are the steps to give a place a private name, courtesy of Google:

  1. Open the Google Maps app .
  2. Search for an address. Or drop a pin by touching and holding a place on the map.
  3. From the bottom, touch the place’s name or address.
  4. From the top right, touch the menu > Edit name.

Pretty simple, right? Google Operating System also notes that Google has recently implemented a feature for its web and Android app called the “Timeline,” which shows you everywhere you’ve been in the past day, month or year (providing you’ve turned “Location History” on).

 

Jacob Siegal
Jacob Siegal Associate Editor

Jacob Siegal is Associate Editor at BGR, having joined the news team in 2013. He has over a decade of professional writing and editing experience, and helps to lead our technology and entertainment product launch and movie release coverage.