Google Will Now Tell You When To Avoid A Busy Bar

It's Saturday, and you haven't made any plans. 

You fancy a coffee. Maybe a read of the paper. Possibly something bready covered in chocolate.

Off you plod to that cafe you'd been meaning to check out for a few weeks, a spring in your step - soon unsprung as you round the corner and find the place teaming with prams and their audible occupants. 

Never mind - perhaps the [insert coffee chain name] will be quieter?

It's not. Stuff it, why not go to the gym instead? 

It's heaving. If only there was a way of finding out how busy these places were without having to leave your home.

Enter Google with its techy cape fluttering in the wind. The newest addition to Google Search sees a location's busiest times presented in a scrollable graph, like so:

The new addition compiles data on "busy" periods by pulling in the location data from Android user's phones. If you've allowed Google to collect information on where you and your phone are going, it allows them to form rough estimates on how busy a place is by cross-referencing Android locations, Google Maps and venue details.

So, in reality, you're only going to see how many Android/Google app users are in your local. 

Or you could just stay inside.