What is Ask Maps in Google Maps?

Ask Maps is the conversational assistant built into the Google Maps app, powered by Gemini. You describe what you are looking for in plain language instead of typing a keyword search. With this update it can also complete tasks such as ordering food and booking a hotel rather than only answering questions.

Which countries can use Ask Maps food ordering and hotel booking?

Only the United States at launch. Google has said the booking features will expand to more markets later but has not named which ones or given a date. The country expansion announced at the same time covers the assistant itself, not the booking tools.

Which food delivery partners work with Ask Maps?

Toast and Square are supported from launch, and Uber Eats is due to follow. Ask Maps searches for restaurants matching your description and then routes the order through one of those partner platforms to complete it.

Does Ask Maps read my Gmail?

Only if you allow it. The Gmail connection is part of Personal Intelligence, which is turned off by default, and Google says you choose whether to enable it. Once on, it can use details such as flight times or hotel bookings to personalise answers. Calendar and other app connections are planned to follow.

Where is Ask Maps available now?

Google is adding Australia, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Japan and Mexico, on top of roughly 150 other countries and territories where the assistant works in English. The new live transit widget and Personal Intelligence roll out everywhere Ask Maps is available, unlike the US-only booking features.

Ask Maps Can Now Order Food and Book Hotels in Google Maps

What Ask Maps can actually do now

The headline change is that Ask Maps has moved from answering questions to completing tasks. You describe what you want in plain language and the assistant works through the options rather than handing you a list of pins.

Food ordering — describe a dish or a craving and Ask Maps finds nearby kitchens serving it, then routes the order through partner platforms. Toast and Square are supported at launch, with Uber Eats following later.

Hotel booking — you can specify budget, room size, nearby attractions and dates, and the assistant checks live availability and pricing across options instead of returning a static list.

Events and tickets — comedy nights, live music and similar listings now come back with ticketing links attached.

Local Guides edits — contributors can suggest corrections to a listing through the chat and attach photos while doing it.

All three booking categories are US-only for now. Google has said they will widen to other markets later but has not attached a date or a country list to that, so treat any timeline as unconfirmed.

Personal Intelligence, and why it is switched off

The more consequential change for privacy-minded readers is Personal Intelligence, which lets Ask Maps draw on your own Google data to answer questions. Connected to Gmail, it can handle things like working out what time your flight lands or suggesting somewhere to eat near the hotel you already booked. Calendar and further app connections are due to follow.

Google has been explicit that this is opt-in: the Gmail connection is off by default, and the company says users decide whether to enable it. Nothing from your inbox feeds the assistant until you turn that switch on yourself. Ask Maps also now remembers earlier turns in a conversation so follow-up questions make sense, though that history is tied to your Google account History settings — if you keep those disabled, the memory does not persist.

The live transit widget

Alongside the booking work, Ask Maps is gaining a live transit widget that tracks delays and changing conditions on public transport in real time rather than showing a fixed timetable. Unlike the booking features, this is rolling out everywhere Ask Maps operates, which makes it the single most broadly useful item in the announcement for readers outside the United States.

Where you can use it

The country picture splits into two tiers, and it is worth being precise about it:

Newly added markets — Australia, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Japan and Mexico.
English-language coverage — roughly 150 additional countries and territories, where the conversation happens in English.

Ask Maps first appeared earlier in 2026 and has been expanding in stages since, so the pattern of a staggered, server-side rollout should be familiar to anyone who has waited on a Maps feature before. As with the Immersive Navigation rollout, availability is enabled remotely and there is no toggle that forces it to appear sooner.

How to check whether you have it

Open Google Maps, make sure the app is current from the Play Store or App Store, and look for the Ask Maps entry point in the search area. If it is there, tap through to the settings inside the chat to see whether Personal Intelligence is offered — that is the clearest signal your account has been switched on for the new build.

The direction of travel is hard to miss. Google has been steadily folding Gemini into Maps since it first brought its AI features to the app, and this update pushes the app past recommendation and into transaction. It also arrives while the company is winding down its older voice assistant, with Google Assistant due to stop working on phones and Wear OS from September 4 — a reminder that the conversational layer across Google's apps is being rebuilt around a single system.