Don’t Get Lost: Google Maps Update Helps You Navigate National Parks

Pretty soon, it’ll be time to grab your America the Beautiful pass and dive into the nation’s extensive national park system. But this summer, expect to see some updates in your trusty travel companion: Google Maps.

Google Maps currently offers basic navigation that gets you to the park, but its helpfulness drops off once you enter and are searching for specific trailheads, lookout points, and key attractions.

But now Google says it has improved four main navigation experiences to help visitors better use the app. The changes will roll out to all US national parks this month, ahead of National Park Week, which starts on April 22, when entrance fees are waived. Parks around the world will get the updates in the coming months, Google says.

Fully highlighted trail on new Google Maps national park navigation.
(Credit: Google)

The first update Google made is to more clearly highlight park entrances. Once you’re inside, the second update helps locate key points of interest. “Now you can quickly identify the most popular places in a park—like attractions, campgrounds, visitor centers, and trailheads—with help from the Maps community,” Google says(Opens in a new window).

“Say you’re interested in visiting Yellowstone National Park. Search for the park and you’ll see photo highlights for key attractions, like Old Faithful. Tap on any of the photos to get even more details—like videos and reviews—from people who have been there before.”

Third, hiking trailheads should be easier to find, with more details about the hike itself. Google will highlight the entire route on a map, not just a pin at the entrance. Richer details will round out the understanding of what hikers are in for, including trail difficulty and whether it’s better for running, walking, or biking.

Trail marker in Shenandoah National Park
(Credit: Emily Dreibelbis)

The typical photos and reviews will still be there, but it seems like Google might be planning bulk up content from experts—”like Colorado-based Local Guide Jeremy(Opens in a new window), a published nature photographer who has visited more than 30 US national parks!”

For the fourth and final update, hikers can download offline maps. “This way you can easily find your way around without internet access or cellular data,” Google says. “The download button will appear on park listings later this month.”

The changes may mean fewer people relying on another popular hiking app, AllTrails(Opens in a new window), which offers more robust details on a hike’s difficulty, including photos and helpful reviews. A paid subscription for AllTrails+(Opens in a new window) allows for downloading offline maps, along with other features not found on Google such as alerts for wrong turns, 3D flyover views, and ability to easily print backup maps. But Google’s new experience is not quite a direct competitor to AllTrails, as it zooms out from the hike itself and focuses specifically on national parks and navigating them.