Google Maps Preview Updates with Multi-Destination Directions, Travel Info and Events Listings

Who’s ready for Lil and Ted’s Excellent Adventure? Google announced an update to its Google Maps preview earlier this afternoon, bringing back directions for multiple destinations, adding access to flight information and integrating event listings from Maps venues.

For some of you, support for multiple destinations in Google Maps directions didn’t leave. If you’re still using regular old Google Maps and haven’t jumped into the beta, you can still create multi-destination trips that can be reordered by dragging and dropping. The feature vanished for users who upgraded to the Google Maps preview, but now that it’s returned, those folks can get back to planning Ted Mosby-style road trips.

Travel information is another new feature popping up in the Google Maps preview. According to Google, you can “Just search for your departing airport or dining destination, and [Google will] instantly show your upcoming plans.” I can envision this being very useful for travelers, though it’s only going to benefit those in the U.S. — at least until Google decides to roll it out to more countries.

And finally, the Google Maps preview can now show you upcoming events. You can search a specific venue, a general area or even the type of venue you want to check out — so if you’re hanging out in a city or town you aren’t familiar with, a search like “comedy clubs” could bring back local venues and let you know who is performing and what time the show starts. Even if you’re at home, a quick search inside Google Maps might be a bit quicker than trying to find the local happenings on the wider Web.

All in all, not a bad set of updates for the Google Maps preview. If you’re using it, take some time to check out the new additions. If you’re still on the older Maps version, rest assured that a much-improved Maps experience is coming your way in the future.