Use layers to find places, traffic, terrain, biking & transit

With Google Maps, you can find:

Traffic for your commute
Transit lines in a new city
Bicycle-friendly routes
Satellite imagery
Information about the landscape
Places nearby

Tip: You can find traffic info, public transit options, and local places of interest in just a few seconds. Learn more about nearby places and travel.

Get traffic, transit, or terrain info

On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google Maps app .
At the top right, tap Layers .
Tap the Map type that you want to get.
Tap the Map details that you want to include:
- Transit: Public transportation information, like train lines and bus routes
- Traffic: Flow of traffic on the roads
- Bicycling: Bicycle paths that you can take
- Street View: Street View of the area
- 3D: Buildings in 3D
- Air quality: Air quality information
To turn off a view or hide details, tap it again.

Tip: Traffic information isn't available everywhere.

Get satellite view all the time

Open the Google Maps app .
Tap your profile picture or initial Settings .
Turn on Start maps in satellite view.

Tip: You use more data on satellite view than on the regular map view.

Find live traffic for buses

On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google Maps app .
Search for your destination, then select transit directions. Read more about how to get directions.
If a bus route has Live Traffic for Buses information available, you can find one of the following:
- Usual traffic
- How many minutes are added for traffic

Learn the meanings of colors & symbols on the legend

Nearby places of interest

Mini-pins on the maps show nearby places of interest you may enjoy. The pins are listed in different categories, including:

Food and drink:

Retail:

Outdoor attractions:

Emergency services:

City services:

To learn more about the mini-pins and what they represent, consult the full legend.

Traffic

Traffic colors

The color code shows you the speed of traffic on the road.

Green: No traffic delays.
Orange: Medium amount of traffic.
Red: Traffic delays. The darker the red, the slower the speed of traffic on the road.

Tip: Gray or blue lines on the map show your routes.

Traffic incident symbols

Traffic incidents include these types of delays:

Crashes
Construction
Road closures
Other incidents

To find details about what happened, click or tap the icon.

Tip: You can find road closures marked with a dotted red line where the road is closed.

Public transit

The lines on the map show bus, subway, and rail routes. To find more information and upcoming trains or buses, choose a station stop icon .

To find station stops, look for transit icons like , , or .

Tip: When possible, the colored lines on the map match the transportation agency's color system. For example, the “A” line in New York City is colored blue by the Metro Transit Authority (MTA), so it's blue on the map.

Biking trails

The colors show you the type of bicycling paths.

Dark green: Trails that don't have auto traffic.
Green: Dedicated lanes are roads that are shared with cars and have a separate bike lane.
Dotted green line: Bicycle-friendly roads are roads that don't have a bike lane but are recommended for cyclists.
Brown: Unpaved trails are off-road dirt paths.

Terrain

Find the elevation of the landscape, like mountains and canyons. Contour lines overlaid on the map show elevation and gray numbers show altitude.

Street View

Blue lines overlaid on the map show where Street View is available.

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