The other day, Google announced on Google+ another one of those "Wow" features. Now, via the Google Maps app (currently only Android right now), you can look up a business and see the "popular times" by day and hour.
That means you can see how busy a specific restaurant is, a post office, a business, retail store, etc before you go, based on actual crowdsourced data. Yes, Google is able to see when people go to which locations and use that data to warn people not to go now because it is normally a very busy time and your wait time will be unusually long.
Here is a picture Google shared:
Google said "now, you can avoid the wait and see the busiest times of the week at millions of places and businesses around the world directly from Google Search."
Mike Blumenthal has an outstanding FAQ on his site which I couldn't find elsewhere.
Q: Is this available Internationally?
A: Yes; this will be available in all locales.
Q: Will this feature be available for all mobile carriers?
A: Yes, this feature is available for all mobile phones with an internet connection on modern mobile browsers and Android GSA, regardless of carrier.
Q: When will this feature be available in the Google App on iOS?
A: As of now, this feature is available on Android devices and a number of browsers, including Safari and Chrome.
Q: What types of features are associated with this launch?
A: This launch lets users see historical trends of how busy a place gets throughout the week.
Q: Where does Google get this data from?
A: The information is based on anonymized and aggregated visits to places from Google users who have opted-in to sharing location data.
Q: Is Google tracking my location and saving it for this feature?
A: No. The information is completely anonymous and users must opt-in to store location data.
Q: What can businesses do if they don’t want the busyness data to show for their business?
A: We do not offer a way for businesses to remove this information. We believe this information is valuable for customers in deciding when and where to go.
Q: What types of places will this information show for?
A: This information shows for places where users are commonly worried about how busy it typically gets. Data will show up for locations with regular foot traffic and a local listing on Google Maps.
Forum discussion at Google+.
