View places, traffic, terrain, biking, and transit

With Google Maps, you can find things like:

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

Choose your map & your info

1. On your computer, open a web browser, like Chrome or Safari.
2. Go to Google Maps.
3. In the top left, click Menu .
4. Select which kind of map you want:
   • Map: Roads, places, and major landmarks
   • Satellite: Aerial pictures
   • Terrain: Local terrain
5. Select the info you want to see on your map, like:
   • Traffic: Local traffic conditions
   • Transit: Bus, subway, and rail routes
   • Bicycling: Bike paths
   • Street View: Access Street View of the area
   • 3D: See buildings in 3D
6. If you want to zoom out and see the world in 3D, click Globe.

Note: If an option is listed in gray, there isn’t enough info available to select it.

What the colors and symbols mean on the legend

Nearby places of interest

To find places of interest, look for mini-pins that show you nearby locations. Places of interest make up different categories, including:

Food and drink: 

    

Retail:

 

Outdoor attractions:

    

Emergency services:

     

City services:

    

To learn more about the mini-pins and what they represent, find 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.

Note: 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.

Note: For road closures, you'll find 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 is 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.