You Now Need to Sign in to View These Key Google Maps Features.
I use Google Maps to get from point A to point B, but I also use it to research information. It’s an indispensable tool for finding new restaurants or hotels with good reviews in a new area. While many use it with their Google account, others prefer not to share their data with Google. Using Google Maps without an account is a good way to do this: you can discover new interesting places without telling Google you’re interested in them. However, if you prefer to use Google Maps without an account, keep in mind: the service’s capabilities are significantly limited.
As 9to5Google reports , Google is now limiting the amount of data displayed when accessing Google Maps without an account. This change affects things like images, reviews, restaurants, businesses, hotels, parks—essentially, most map markers. As far as I can tell, important markers like city names and highway designations remain intact, but even some street names seem to disappear when you sign out.
If you can find restaurants in limited browsing mode, you’ll see some of the usual data, but you’ll also notice that a few things are missing. This might include information about whether the restaurant offers takeout or delivery, user reviews, popular hours, user-submitted photos and videos, menus, and links to other establishments. I tested this myself in incognito mode, randomly scrolling through a listing for Richmond, Virginia, and clicked on the first (of several) restaurants that appeared: Laura Lee’s. Although I saw the overall rating (4.6), I couldn’t access the reviews. I also only saw the main restaurant image. There’s enough information here to decide whether to call, but it’s missing a lot of the data you’d typically rely on when choosing a place for lunch or dinner.
However, Google doesn’t necessarily associate the limited view with being signed out. If you open the Help pop-up titled “Google Maps Limited View,” the company explains that there are several reasons why you might see this view. These could include issues with Google Maps itself, unusual traffic from your computer or network, or browser extensions that could be interfering with Google Maps. Only after listing these reasons will Google prompt you to sign in to Google Maps, “which can help you avoid this limited view from appearing again.”
Of course, signing in returns all this data, as you’d expect, and if you always use Google Maps with your Google account, you’ll never notice the difference. But this is an interesting distinction Google makes. How many people using Google Maps without an account will realize that this is the reason their experience is worse? Perhaps they’ll switch to another option, though that’s not many. Apple users have Apple Maps, and there’s always Waze—but, oddly enough, it’s also owned by Google.