Google Maps and Gemini had a baby, and it’s “Ask Maps”.
“Ask Maps” is a new feature available in the Google Maps app which was released March 12, 2026. Google announced “Ask Maps” along with immersive navigation in an article titled How we’re reimagining Maps with Gemini.
What Exactly is “Ask Maps”?
When users open the Maps app, they have access to a button called “Ask Maps”. Tapping the button brings up a conversational interface where users may ask questions / enter prompts.
“Ask Maps” provides answers based on your history, publicly available information, web results, and user reviews.
You can ask maps complex questions, such as “Saturday morning I’ll be driving to Houston TX, please plan a trip for me. I’ll need to eat quickly, get gas, stop for coffee, walk my dog, and stay at a hotel on the way.” Maps knows where you live and your food preferences and will take those into account when planning the trip, and find destinations along your route. Because you stated you need to eat quickly, it will take that into account and look for restaurants without a long wait time on Saturday mornings.
Basically, instead of Google Maps simply showing you businesses near you, “Ask Maps” can research and plan.
What do Lawyers Need to Know?
It’s unlikely many users will use Ask Maps for finding attorneys, but, of course, a few people will.
Here’s an example – I just prompted “Ask Maps”: “Good personal injury attorneys in Spokane WA who have been in business a long time, have good reviews, and offer free consultation”
Ask Maps returned 4 or 5 firms. See the screenshot:
At the bottom of the recommended firms there is an “Overview Map” – if you tap that, you’re sent into a Map where you can tap on various attorneys and see their Google Business Profile.
Next Steps:
For max visibility in “Ask Maps” (along with Gemini) it’s important to play with Ask Maps and see where you stand based on certain queries. Reviews continue to be extremely important. Of course, a properly optimized Google Business Page is very important as well.
