Google Maps expands Gemini into everyday tasks

Google Maps is moving beyond navigation and discovery with new Gemini-powered features that can prepare food orders, search for hotels and events, and tailor recommendations using information from a user’s connected Google services.

The expansion gives Ask Maps, Google’s conversational artificial intelligence interface, more agent-like capabilities. Instead of merely suggesting restaurants, the service can now interpret a detailed request, locate a suitable business along a route and prepare the requested items in an online shopping cart. Users retain control over the transaction and must review and approve the purchase before payment is completed.

Food ordering is initially being supported through restaurant commerce platforms Square and Toast, while integration with Uber Eats is expected to follow. A user could, for example, request a particular dish for collection on the journey home, specify dietary requirements and allow Maps to identify restaurants that are open and conveniently positioned along the route. Once a restaurant is chosen, Gemini can populate the cart with the requested food.

The approach marks a significant extension of the Ask Maps service introduced earlier this year. The original system focused heavily on conversational local search, allowing users to describe requirements in ordinary language rather than relying on conventional search terms and filters. Gemini could evaluate information about places, reviews, photographs and location data to generate responses to comparatively complex questions.

Google is now applying the same conversational model to accommodation searches. Users can give Maps detailed requirements involving price, location and nearby amenities. Someone attending a conference, for instance, could ask for a hotel within a particular budget that is also close to a gym and restaurants. Ask Maps can examine relevant options, prices and availability before directing the user to a hotel or booking provider to complete the reservation.

Event discovery is being expanded in a similar way. Maps can identify concerts and other local activities that fit a user’s preferences and provide links for purchasing tickets. The changes place the service more directly alongside travel, hospitality, restaurant and event-booking platforms, while keeping the final commercial decision with the user.

Another important addition is Personal Intelligence, Google’s system for using information from connected services to make Gemini responses more relevant to an individual. Ask Maps can initially connect with Gmail, enabling the AI to take existing travel arrangements and reservations into account when making recommendations. Gmail access is disabled by default and requires users to opt in.

That means a traveller with flight confirmations, hotel bookings or restaurant reservations stored in Gmail could ask Maps for suggestions without repeatedly entering the details of those plans. Google intends to broaden the integration to services including Calendar, allowing Maps to use additional scheduling context when helping organise trips and activities.

Personal Intelligence has become a wider element of Google’s Gemini strategy during 2026. The system can connect information across services such as Gmail, Photos, Search and YouTube where supported, while users can decide which applications are linked and manage personalisation settings. Google has positioned those controls as central to its effort to make AI assistants more useful without automatically granting access to private account information.

Ask Maps is also gaining memory for conversations, allowing users to continue planning without starting a fresh exchange each time. The capability could be particularly useful for multi-stage travel planning where accommodation, restaurants, transport and attractions are selected over several sessions.

Google has also added live public-transport information. Ask Maps can provide updates about delays affecting buses, trains, underground services and ferries. A live transit widget brings those updates into the interface, extending Gemini’s role from destination discovery into decisions made while a journey is under way.

Users can additionally make contributions to Maps conversationally. Changes to information about a business can be proposed through Ask Maps or the Contribute section. Photographs of shopfronts and signs can be analysed to identify details such as opening hours, after which Maps asks the contributor to confirm the proposed information before submitting it.

Food ordering, enhanced hotel and event discovery and conversational contributions are beginning in the United States, with wider expansion planned. Ask Maps itself has also expanded to Australia, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Japan and Mexico, alongside markets where the service was already available.