A new fund to support investigative reporting

Investigative journalism has changed drastically over the past decade. Technology is playing a growing and evolving role in everything from gathering documents to processing data. New tools allow real-time collaboration across newsrooms and continents. While a few news organizations have the staff and resources to take advantage of these technological advances, not enough local news organizations and freelancers can say the same.

Before our current roles at Northwestern and Google, we worked together at The Washington Post. We were fortunate to be able to arm reporters with ultra-modern technology to work on document-centric news stories. The powerful combination of tools and reporters showed not only in the prizes the reporting won, but also in the tremendous impact it had on lawmakers and society. Our colleagues on The Post’s investigative team relied on technology to process and understand the large document sets that powered their award-winning work on projects like the Opioid Files and the Afghanistan Papers. These projects also motivated policy makers to bring about important societal changes.

While we met in a national newsroom, we both have roots in local journalism. We know how important accountability reporting can be to local communities. Smaller newsrooms, especially those that cover marginalized groups, need more resources to supply critical, accountability coverage.

Supporting journalists all over the world and creating tools to help them do their work more efficiently, regardless of their organization’s size, is an essential part of the Google News Initiative. Last year, the GNI launched Journalist Studio, a suite of Google tools to help journalists. This includes Pinpoint, which uses the best of Google’s search, artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to help reporters quickly search through large amounts of documents.

Today, we’re announcing The Data-Driven Reporting Project, a partnership between the GNI and the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University. Medill will run The Data-Driven Reporting Project, which aims to address the inequality of resources for local newsrooms and freelancers when doing essential data-driven, investigative reporting. The project is committed to awarding $2 million to journalists working on document-based investigative projects that serve local and underrepresented communities throughout the United States and Canada.

The goal of the program is to help qualified applicants publish meaningful stories which make use of modern tools and resources. Medill will provide specialized training, expertise and resources to award recipients. The program also seeks to build a greater sense of community among journalists doing this kind of work. When possible, awarded projects will contribute to a growing collection of publicly accessible data for other journalists to explore and use. Medill will put together a jury of academics, journalists and technologists to vet applicants and choose projects to fund. Google will have no role in the jury or project selection process.

The Data-Driven Reporting Project reflects Journalist Studio’s focus on giving reporters access to tools and training. Pinpoint can transcribe audio files and recognize handwriting and text in images. The tool has proved useful to several journalists at, for example, The Boston Globe, which analyzed hundreds of documents in their Pulitzer-Prize-winning series Blindspot; Mexico-based Quinto Elemento’s investigation into corporate corruption; and the Philippines-based Rappler’s examination of CIA reports from the 1970s.

This illustration shows papers that have the same word and shows that Pinpoint can find them regardless if they are in text or in handwriting.

An illustration of how Pinpoint can find words across documents.

Building on powerful technology like this, the Data-Driven Reporting Project highlights three of Medill’s core strengths: its history of using investigative journalism to lift the oppressed, a focus on local newsrooms and a commitment to exploring the intersection of technology and journalism. The Medill Investigative Lab was involved in the recent publication of the Pandora Papers, a project that used technology to interrogate millions of documents to expose secret dealing by politicians and the ultra-wealthy. Medill’s Local News Initiative is working with dozens of newsrooms around the U.S. to bolster their business strategies. And Northwestern’s Knight Lab (an experimental community for journalists, technologists and designers) is working on a pair of AI-related projects, the 2021 CollabAI: Americas and the Knight Foundation’s AI for Local News initiative that seeks to apply AI methods to investigative reporting.

The Data-Driven Reporting Project will begin accepting applications beginning in December 2021. If you have a project rooted in data and documents, that could benefit from more resources, technology and training, learn more on how to apply.

Fighting the digital divide for diverse news publishers

The digital divide and technology gap that hundreds of US based Black- and Latino-owned publications face is something the Google News Initiative is working to bridge in partnership with news associations like National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), the National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP) and the Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN).

As a result, we jointly developed the GNI Ad Transformation Lab, a program to support publishers serving underrepresented communities in their transition to digital. The first round of the Lab helped 28 Black, and Latino publishers advance their digital businesses and build digital advertising capabilities required to achieve growth today. This was done by providing extensive analytical and technical support alongside personalized coaching to address each organization’s distinct digital business transformation.

And while we recognize that this shift requires years of hard work, we’re encouraged by the early results. On average, participating publishers experienced a 25% increase in programmatic revenue, a 10% increase in traffic and a 30% improvement in PageSpeed scores.

Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., President and CEO of the NNPA has noted that “it’s crucial to embrace a digital first business priority to remain financially sustainable.” And that’s why we will be continuing this partnership to launch a second Lab to help more Black- and Latino- owned publications on their steps towards a digital future.

“At first, we didn’t know what we didn’t know,” says Bethany Lane, Revenue Strategist at QCity Metro based in Charlotte, North Carolina. “The GNI Ad Transformation Lab was an intense education. It has pushed us further down the road toward sustainability.” QCity Metro experienced 100%+ growth in direct sold advertising revenue and average revenue per client, and secured a number of new advertising clients due to participation in the program.

“With the GNI, we learned how to use new tools, set up digital advertising campaigns, and significantly improve our site. In seven months, we were able to grow our advertising revenue, improve our site speed, better the user experience, and motivate and energize our team,” says Jose Zelaya, Editor-in-Chief of Miami-based Noti Bomba.

Other publishers experienced similar growth. In their own words:

This is a video of Dana Peck, Director of Digital Solutions at The AFRO, sharing her experience in the GNI Ad Transformation Lab.
10:25
This is a video of Will Medina, Director of Sales and Marketing at Prensa Arizona, sharing his experience in the GNI Ad Transformation Lab.
10:25

We look forward to sharing the insights we’ve learned with a new group of publishers next year. The application for the 2022 Ad Transformation Lab is now live. The application window will close on Monday, November 29 at 11:59 p.m. EST. We encourage news organizations and publishers who serve diverse and underrepresented communities in the United States and Canada to apply.

The GNI remains dedicated to sharing best practices with the broader community of news organizations and will continue to incorporate resources into our ongoing Digital Growth Program, available to all publishers around the world for free online.

Supporting media literacy with new partnerships

From the COVID-19 pandemic to the climate crisis, we’ve seen how misinformation can have catastrophic consequences. Misleading information can spread among family and friends, impacting not only the way people see the world and relate to each other, but the decisions they make for their health, and for their loved ones and communities.

Separating fact from fiction online has gotten more difficult, and no generation is immune: A 2019 Pew Research study found that only 26% of U.S. adults could identify a factual statement from an opinion. A Stanford University study from the same year found that two-thirds of high school students surveyed couldn’t tell the difference between news stories and sponsored content.

Communities need to be able to spot a fake story when they see it and stop it in its tracks. That’s why today, the Google News Initiative (GNI) is building on our commitment to strengthen media literacy in the U.S. through partnerships with PBS NewsHour’s Student Reporting Labs, the News Literacy Project, and Poynter’s MediaWise program.

Bridging generations with PBS Student Reporting Labs

Started in 2009, PBS Student Reporting Labs (SRL) is a leader in the youth media landscape, currently operating in more than 160 classrooms and after-school programs across the U.S. Thousands of teachers have used SRL’s journalism, civic engagement and video production resources, which train students on the ins and outs of producing reliable news, learning journalism ethics, fact checking and engaging with their communities.

Insherah Qazi from Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas explains what local school boards do and why they’re important. When the American Rescue Plan became law in March of 2021, more than 120 billion dollars was sent to K-12 schools. The money is being used for safe reopening, addressing learning loss and whatever else the district decides is necessary. Local school boards are the ones making these decisions, so it's never been more important to understand what they do and how students can get involved. This piece was produced and edited by youth media producer Becky Wandel. #AmericanRescuePlan #BacktoSchool #SchoolBoards
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As part of our partnership, Student Reporting Labs will build educational resources to help teach young people how to have conversations about misinformation with older family members and friends. The hope is that new audiences, and those already familiar with PBS NewsHour and local public media station partners, will come together to help tackle misinformation.

“Through storytelling and co-production with students, we’ll explore the media literacy needs of different communities and generations, and how they can connect with each other to find solutions,” says SRL Founder Leah Clapman.

Expanding to rural communities with News Literacy Project

Through online classes, events and in-person visits to schools, the News Literacy Project (NLP) provides media literacy education to students, educators and the public. More than 300,000 students have completed lessons on NLP’s virtual classroom platform, Checkology, since its launch in 2016.

The Google News Initiative’s partnership will help the NLP bring their Newsroom to Classroom program to even more journalists and educators. NLP is now expanding into rural areas of California, Colorado, Texas, Iowa and Nebraska — places hit particularly hard by the decline in local news.

“News literacy is an essential skill for everyone everywhere in a healthy democracy,” Claudia Borgelt, Vice President of Development at NLP says. “Access to news literacy education should not be limited by a community’s zip code.”

Expanding Spanish-language resources with Poynter’s MediaWise

Our efforts extend beyond students and educators. The GNI was the original supporter of Poynter’s MediaWise project, which was initially focused on students and has since expanded to seniors. Launched in 2020, the MediaWise for Seniors program has trained more than half a million Americans to date.

We’re joining forces with the team again to translate their “How to Spot Misinformation Online” course into Spanish, and create a text-based version of the course that will be delivered via SMS, which is how many seniors find and share news.

Two mobile phones side by side. Both are showing a text message of paragraphs in Spanish, including various emojis like fire alarms and smiley faces.

“More than 41 million people in the U.S. speak Spanish at home,” says MediaWise Director Katy Byron. “Research shows that health and vaccine-related falsehoods and conspiracy theories are some of the most pervasive forms of misinformation targeting Hispanic communities. Making these Spanish-language educational resources available in multiple formats, on platforms popular with the 50+ Hispanic population, will help combat the Spanish language misinformation gap.”

Teaser trailer for an upcoming television segment on Telemundo about the new MediaWise project.
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These partnerships build on Google’s other media literacy efforts around the world, including a €25 million contribution to the European Media and Information Fund. Along with products like Fact Check Explorer and the “about this result” feature in Search, Google is committed to equipping people with the skills they need to stop the spread of misinformation and sort fact from fiction online.

9 mistletoe-tally helpful Google Maps tips

With November well under way, we candycane’t help but get excited for the holidays! Whether you’ve been naughty or nice this year, Google Maps has your back. We’ve compiled nine of our favorite tips — no matter what your holiday persona is — so you can sleigh your plans and to-do list this season.

For the person who already made their list and checked it twice:

1. Figure out the best time to leave: Holiday traffic can be unpredictable. To make sure you’re on time, get driving directions on Google Maps and tap the three dots on the right side of your screen. Set the time you’d like to arrive by to see how long it’ll take you to get to your destination.

2. Save money on gas: With eco-friendly routing, you can now choose the most fuel-efficient route to your destination. A quick search for “gas prices” shows you prices for nearby stations so you can pick the cheapest one.

3. Save time grocery shopping: Whether you’re grabbing a missing ingredient or stocking up before your in-laws arrive, pickup with Google Maps is the new grocery pickup experience that can get you in and out of the parking lot in less than five minutes. Simply place an online order from a participating Kroger Family store, then add it to Maps from your order confirmation page. This is currently available in the US only.

For the spontaneous shopper:

4. Search along your route: Forget a hostess gift? If you’re on the road, use Google Maps to search for malls, grocery stores and other places along your drive so you can tackle your tasks without going out of your way.

5. Tap and go with contactless payments: Avoid pulling out your wallet or touching a parking meter by paying for street parking or public transit right from Google Maps. When you’re out and about, just type in your meter number, hit pay and refill. If you’re taking public transit, you’ll see an option to pay as soon as you arrive at the station.

6. Find your way around malls, airports and transit stations fast: With the new Directory tab, you can easily see where all of the places are within a large building — like where the jewelry store is inside your local mall. With just a few taps, get helpful information about the place — such as if it's open now, what floor it's on, and how highly it's rated — so you can get in and out in no time.

For the holiday party hopper:

7. Find people and places with ease: If you’re strolling through a new neighborhood, let Live View guide your way with augmented reality arrows and directions overlaid right on top of your world. Meeting up with a friend who shared their location with you? Just tap on their icon and then on Live View to see where and how far away they are — and quickly follow the arrows to find them.

8. Share your ETA: ‘Tis the season to run between Friendsgiving meals and holiday parties. You can use Google Maps to let friends and family know exactly when they can expect you to arrive with just a few taps.

9. Find the fun (or hibernate far away from it) with live busyness information: Before you head out, search for a place on Google Maps and scroll down to see how busy it is right now so you can plan your social life accordingly. This holiday season, we’re also launching Area Busyness, a new tool stemming from the existing busyness feature, that shows you when parts of town are busier than usual, so you can know how to avoid those packed streets near hot brunch spots or see which neighborhoods are bustling with activity.

Looking at the impact of the Google News Initiative

When we launched the Google News Initiative in 2018 with a mission of helping to create a sustainable landscape for journalism, the news industry and the world were in very different places. Now, more than three years later, we are reflecting back on what we’ve accomplished together with news organizations, nonprofits and journalists at the same time as we deepen our commitment to these challenges.

Publishers have shared with us that adapting their business models to digital is immensely difficult. So together with industry associations and thought leaders worldwide we introduced the Digital Growth Program to help news organizations accelerate growth in advertising and consumer revenue and strengthen their core foundations in audience development, product and data. The feedback we received from partners also encouraged us to grow our investment in our audience insight tools, including our flagship experience, News Consumer Insights, and build resources for aspiring news entrepreneurs like our Startups Labs and Boot Camps.

Reporters and editors have told us that building digital journalism skills using technology to advance the practice of journalism and combating misinformation are critical priorities. That’s why we’ve expanded our News Lab trainings and made commitments to efforts like the European Media and Information Fund and supporting the fact check community

The increasing pressure the pandemic has put on the business of journalism cannot be overlooked given the knock on effect on newsrooms and their ability to cover the news. That led us to create the Journalism Emergency Relief Fund, putting much-needed funding of nearly $40 million into the hands of over 5,600 local newsrooms. Covid was also the impetus for the Support Local News campaign in the U.S. and Canada to encourage people to support their local paper.

Throughout, we strive to ensure our work touches a diverse group of publishers and audiences — from ourInnovation Challenges which have supported over 200 news organizations around the world, to our first Ad Transformation Lab with 28 Black- and Latino-owned publications in the U.S.

This is just a snapshot of our work. Over the last three years we’ve accomplished a lot, but there’s much more to do. Achieving a healthy, sustainable and diverse news industry isn’t something Google or any single entity can or should do alone. This is a shared responsibility across publishers, companies, governments, civic society and more. Today we remain as committed as we’ve always been to playing our role in adeep and meaningful way.

You can read more about our work in this year’s GNI Impact Report, but below we wanted to highlight some publishers and partners we have worked with along the way.

Quality journalism

Quality journalism plays a central role in connecting people and communities. Across our products we work to provide people with access to essential reporting. We partner with organizations to help people grow their media literacy skills to sort fact from fiction online, and we provide tools and training to help newsrooms in their work. One of our partners is DataLEADS, who we worked with to provide verification training for thousands of reporters across India.

This is a three plus minute video that talks about the origins of the GNI India Training Network and the work with our partner DataLEADS.
10:25

Sustainability and business models

The business of news is changing rapidly. We’ve developed products and programs to support publishers of all sizes in their ongoing journey to sustainability, such as Startups Labs and Bootcamps focused on a community of aspiring news entrepreneurs. That includes Alma Preta, which has grown from a small collective to a fully fledged operation to address the lack of Black representation in Brazilian media.

This is a video that explains the origins of Alma Preta and the people behind this effort.
10:25

Community

Collaboration is at the heart of everything we strive to do with the GNI. It’s essential to bring everyone together to tackle the most pressing issues facing journalism and to hear directly from you on how we can solve these challenges together. It’s key we ensure we include a wide range of voices and range of ideas and opinions to build this community and support diversity in as many corners of the news ecosystem as possible. That approach underpins the GNI’s support forFood for Mzansi’s Sinelizwi citizen journalism project focused on training people to tell the untold stories of rural communities in South Africa.

This video follows the story how Food for Mzansi came about and their new project supported by the GNI to train and tell stories to empower local communities.
10:25

Looking at the impact of the Google News Initiative

When we launched the Google News Initiative in 2018 with a mission of helping to create a sustainable landscape for journalism, the news industry and the world were in very different places. Now, more than three years later, we are reflecting back on what we’ve accomplished together with news organizations, nonprofits and journalists at the same time as we deepen our commitment to these challenges.

Publishers have shared with us that adapting their business models to digital is immensely difficult. So together with industry associations and thought leaders worldwide we introduced the Digital Growth Program to help news organizations accelerate growth in advertising and consumer revenue and strengthen their core foundations in audience development, product and data. The feedback we received from partners also encouraged us to grow our investment in our audience insight tools, including our flagship experience, News Consumer Insights, and build resources for aspiring news entrepreneurs like our Startups Labs and Boot Camps.

Reporters and editors have told us that building digital journalism skills using technology to advance the practice of journalism and combating misinformation are critical priorities. That’s why we’ve expanded our News Lab trainings and made commitments to efforts like the European Media and Information Fund and supporting the fact check community

The increasing pressure the pandemic has put on the business of journalism cannot be overlooked given the knock on effect on newsrooms and their ability to cover the news. That led us to create the Journalism Emergency Relief Fund, putting much-needed funding of nearly $40 million into the hands of over 5,600 local newsrooms. Covid was also the impetus for the Support Local News campaign in the U.S. and Canada to encourage people to support their local paper.

Throughout, we strive to ensure our work touches a diverse group of publishers and audiences — from ourInnovation Challenges which have supported over 200 news organizations around the world, to our first Ad Transformation Lab with 28 Black- and Latino-owned publications in the U.S.

This is just a snapshot of our work. Over the last three years we’ve accomplished a lot, but there’s much more to do. Achieving a healthy, sustainable and diverse news industry isn’t something Google or any single entity can or should do alone. This is a shared responsibility across publishers, companies, governments, civic society and more. Today we remain as committed as we’ve always been to playing our role in adeep and meaningful way.

You can read more about our work in this year’s GNI Impact Report, but below we wanted to highlight some publishers and partners we have worked with along the way.

Quality journalism

Quality journalism plays a central role in connecting people and communities. Across our products we work to provide people with access to essential reporting. We partner with organizations to help people grow their media literacy skills to sort fact from fiction online, and we provide tools and training to help newsrooms in their work. One of our partners is DataLEADS, who we worked with to provide verification training for thousands of reporters across India.

This is a three plus minute video that talks about the origins of the GNI India Training Network and the work with our partner DataLEADS.
10:25

Sustainability and business models

The business of news is changing rapidly. We’ve developed products and programs to support publishers of all sizes in their ongoing journey to sustainability, such as Startups Labs and Bootcamps focused on a community of aspiring news entrepreneurs. That includes Alma Preta, which has grown from a small collective to a fully fledged operation to address the lack of Black representation in Brazilian media.

This is a video that explains the origins of Alma Preta and the people behind this effort.
10:25

Community

Collaboration is at the heart of everything we strive to do with the GNI. It’s essential to bring everyone together to tackle the most pressing issues facing journalism and to hear directly from you on how we can solve these challenges together. It’s key we ensure we include a wide range of voices and range of ideas and opinions to build this community and support diversity in as many corners of the news ecosystem as possible. That approach underpins the GNI’s support forFood for Mzansi’s Sinelizwi citizen journalism project focused on training people to tell the untold stories of rural communities in South Africa.

This video follows the story how Food for Mzansi came about and their new project supported by the GNI to train and tell stories to empower local communities.
10:25

Keep it chill this holiday with new tools from Google Maps

The holidays are right around the corner, and we’re starting to get santa-mental! This year, many places around the world are lifting restrictions — which means people are excited to celebrate with friends and family. To keep the coming weeks stress-free, we’re launching new Google Maps tools to help you stay safe, maximize your time with loved ones and find that perfect holiday brunch spot. ?

Avoid the crowds — or flock to the festivities ?

Whether you’re heading to your hometown or exploring a new city, you can use Area Busyness, a new feature that combines live busyness trends to help you instantly spot when a neighborhood or part of town is near or at its busiest. Say you’re not a fan of crowds — just open Google Maps to see places to avoid, like the area near a holiday fair. And if you’re traveling and want to check out some of the more popular areas in town, you can easily pinpoint which neighborhoods are lively.

Want more info? Tap on a neighborhood to see how busy it is at different times of day, along with the restaurants, shops and recreational places (like a museum) within it, so you can decide if you want to visit. Area Busyness starts rolling out globally on Android and iOS, in time for this holiday season.

GIF of Area Busyness feature on Google Maps

See when a neighborhood is busier than usual with Area Busyness

Navigate malls, airports and transit stations in a snap ?

There’s nothing quite like running through the mall in search of a last-minute gift or dashing across the airport to catch your flight. To help you find your way around large buildings fast, we’re expanding the Directory tab globally on Android and iOS for all airports, malls and transit stations around the world. Now, when we have this data available, you can quickly see what types of stores are in a building (like toy stores or jewelry boutiques), airport lounges, car rentals, parking lots and more. And within each category, you can see a list of the relevant businesses, in addition to helpful information about whether it’s open, its rating and what floor it's on.

GIF of the Directory tab on Google Maps

The Directory tab is now available globally on Android and iOS

Holiday hosts can save time on grocery shopping ?️

We’ve all been there: You spend weeks writing a grocery list to prepare for a big holiday feast, only to realize that you’ve forgotten a key ingredient ​​?. Not to worry — pickup with Google Maps is here to help. First launched in Portland, Oregon with select Fred Meyers stores, once you place your order from the retailer, pickup with Google Maps lets you track your order status, share your ETA and let the store know you've arrived, all from the app. Pickup with Google Maps now includes more Kroger Family stores like Kroger, Fry’s, Ralphs and Marianos — as of today, it’s now available in over 2,000 store locations in more than 30 states across the U.S. People who use pickup with Google Maps typically wait less than five minutes for their groceries, meaning you can grab exactly what you need and get right back to your day.

GIF of pickup with Google Maps

Pickup with Google Maps is now available in over 2,000 Kroger Family stores in the U.S.

Calling all foodies! See and contribute helpful information about restaurants ?️

Not in the mood to cook? Not to worry. To help you quickly find a restaurant that fits your budget, you’ll start seeing price ranges for dining spots in the U.S. based on contributions from other Google Maps users. We’re also rolling out a simpler way to provide more detailed reviews about places, like whether or not a restaurant or cafe has things like outdoor seating, delivery options, curbside pickup and any features that customers should be aware of.

Pixel phone showing price range for Kim’s sushi restaurant

We’re rolling out price ranges for dining spots in the U.S. based on Google Maps users’ contributions

The holidays are an exciting time, and Google Maps can help you keep it as stress-free as possible. To learn more about how your city is celebrating the holidays, check out our latest trends.

Keep it chill this holiday with new tools from Google Maps

The holidays are right around the corner, and we’re starting to get santa-mental! This year, many places around the world are lifting restrictions — which means people are excited to celebrate with friends and family. To keep the coming weeks stress-free, we’re launching new Google Maps tools to help you stay safe, maximize your time with loved ones and find that perfect holiday brunch spot. ?

Avoid the crowds — or flock to the festivities ?

Whether you’re heading to your hometown or exploring a new city, you can use Area Busyness, a new feature that combines live busyness trends to help you instantly spot when a neighborhood or part of town is near or at its busiest. Say you’re not a fan of crowds — just open Google Maps to see places to avoid, like the area near a holiday fair. And if you’re traveling and want to check out some of the more popular areas in town, you can easily pinpoint which neighborhoods are lively.

Want more info? Tap on a neighborhood to see how busy it is at different times of day, along with the restaurants, shops and recreational places (like a museum) within it, so you can decide if you want to visit. Area Busyness starts rolling out globally on Android and iOS, in time for this holiday season.

GIF of Area Busyness feature on Google Maps

See when a neighborhood is busier than usual with Area Busyness

Navigate malls, airports and transit stations in a snap ?

There’s nothing quite like running through the mall in search of a last-minute gift or dashing across the airport to catch your flight. To help you find your way around large buildings fast, we’re expanding the Directory tab globally on Android and iOS for all airports, malls and transit stations around the world. Now, when we have this data available, you can quickly see what types of stores are in a building (like toy stores or jewelry boutiques), airport lounges, car rentals, parking lots and more. And within each category, you can see a list of the relevant businesses, in addition to helpful information about whether it’s open, its rating and what floor it's on.

GIF of the Directory tab on Google Maps

The Directory tab is now available globally on Android and iOS

Holiday hosts can save time on grocery shopping ?️

We’ve all been there: You spend weeks writing a grocery list to prepare for a big holiday feast, only to realize that you’ve forgotten a key ingredient ​​?. Not to worry — pickup with Google Maps is here to help. First launched in Portland, Oregon with select Fred Meyers stores, once you place your order from the retailer, pickup with Google Maps lets you track your order status, share your ETA and let the store know you've arrived, all from the app. Pickup with Google Maps now includes more Kroger Family stores like Kroger, Fry’s, Ralphs and Marianos — as of today, it’s now available in over 2,000 store locations in more than 30 states across the U.S. People who use pickup with Google Maps typically wait less than five minutes for their groceries, meaning you can grab exactly what you need and get right back to your day.

GIF of pickup with Google Maps

Pickup with Google Maps is now available in over 2,000 Kroger Family stores in the U.S.

Calling all foodies! See and contribute helpful information about restaurants ?️

Not in the mood to cook? Not to worry. To help you quickly find a restaurant that fits your budget, you’ll start seeing price ranges for dining spots in the U.S. based on contributions from other Google Maps users. We’re also rolling out a simpler way to provide more detailed reviews about places, like whether or not a restaurant or cafe has things like outdoor seating, delivery options, curbside pickup and any features that customers should be aware of.

Pixel phone showing price range for Kim’s sushi restaurant

We’re rolling out price ranges for dining spots in the U.S. based on Google Maps users’ contributions

The holidays are an exciting time, and Google Maps can help you keep it as stress-free as possible. To learn more about how your city is celebrating the holidays, check out our latest trends.

Google Maps holiday trends worth mulling over

This holiday season, many of us are feeling more comfortable traveling to see loved ones, shopping in person and scoping out the things to do and places to visit.

As we continue to navigate this new normal, we took a look at Google Maps trends in the U.S. — from the most popular times to visit certain places to what foods Americans are ordering most — to help you make your list, check it twice and get through the holiday season safely, efficiently and joyfully.

No thyme for lines and crowds? No worries

Whether you’re shopping for the perfect Thanksgiving turkey or refilling your hand sanitizer supply, no one likes waiting in line. According to Google Maps data, these are the best and worst times to visit the grocery store, based on the live busyness information in Google Maps:

A chart showing the busiest time to visit grocery stores in the US is typically Sunday at 1pm and the least busy is Thursday at 8pm.

Last year we saw popular gift stores like Kay Jewelers, Bath & Body Works and Barnes & Noble trend in December, with Maps searches for these places increasing 100% from the month before. With expected shipping delays, it’s important to get ahead of your holiday shopping. Here are the best and worst times to fill your sleigh at shopping centers and department stores, according to Google Maps data:

A chart showing the busiest time to visit shopping centers in the US is typically Saturday at 1pm and the least busy is Tuesday at 8pm.

Once you’ve gathered all your gifts and written your cards, it’s time to head to the post office to spread holiday cheer. With fewer people traveling to meet up with loved ones, Maps searches for post offices were up nearly 150% month over month last December. Check out the best and worst times to visit the post office so you can get those holiday cards out without the hassle.

A chart showing the busiest time to visit post offices in the US is typically Tuesday at 3pm and the least busy is Saturday at 2pm.

After all that holiday hustle and bustle, it's time to treat yo’elf! According to Google Maps searches, people look for nail salons more than three times as much as they search for gyms in December. If you’re looking to get pampered at the salon, consider making your appointment at a less busy time:

A chart showing the busiest time to visit salons in the US is typically Saturday at 11am and the least busy is Monday and Tuesday at 7pm.

But wait, there’s myrrh. Once you know where you’re going, the next step is figuring out how you’ll get there — whether it's a plane, train or Polar Express.

According to Google Maps, it looks like Americans are getting back to familiar methods of transportation, with national interest in public transit up 40% compared to last year. This jump is higher in metros known for their public transportation: San Francisco leads the way with transit interest up nearly 95% compared to last year, followed by Washington D.C. (up nearly 75% since last year) and Chicago (up nearly 65% over the same period of time).

Should you choose to travel through the skies (red nose not included), book your travel around these least busy times:

A chart showing the busiest time to visit airports in the US is typically Saturday at 12 pm and the least busy is Saturday at 9 pm.

Eat, drink and be merry

While some people spend the holidays cooking up a storm, some of us like our meals like we like our presents: delivered. In fact, on Christmas Day, Americans search for food delivery options on Google Maps more than twice as much as on a typical Saturday.

Here’s a look at what food Americans search for and order on Google Maps during the holiday season:

  • ? Chinese is the most popular cuisine Americans order on Google on Christmas Day, with orders increasing 25% compared to a typical Saturday.
  • ? New York and Los Angeles put their coastal rivalries aside for the holidays — at least when it comes to food ordering. Both cities prefer Chinese on Christmas Day, and stick to pizza on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
  • ? Seasons meatings? Portlanders turn to Maps to search for burgers most on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. Burgers are also the top-searched food on Google Maps in Minneapolis on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
  • ? Skip the turkey, and pass the noodles! Seattleites search for Thai food on Google Maps more than any other cuisine on Thanksgiving Day.

Holiday Activi-trees

During the holidays, Rockefeller Center is a top trending destination in the U.S., with Maps searches spiking more than 300% last December. Not exactly pine-ing to see the big tree? No problem. Here are 10 of the most popular attractions in the U.S., according to this year’s Google Maps searches:

Whether you have family in town, have extra time off or are looking for inspiration for things to do while on vacation, we hope these trends get you in the holiday spirit. For hacks on how to survive the holiday season, check out these tips and tricks to make Google Maps your ultimate holiday side dish, er, we mean sidekick (but if it were a side dish it’d totally be stuffing).