Gay Pride Parades 2017: Google Maps Adds Routes For 35 Cities To App

Google Maps is celebrating Pride this year by altering its city maps a bit. For 35 parades across the world Google is adding the parade route to maps to help those looking to participate or navigate around the route.

The new feature was added on Friday as some of the first parades began taking place around the world. Google announced the new feature as well as noting it is available on iOS and Android devices immediately. So if you’re in a city where there is a parade this weekend you may see the route when you open Maps.

Read: Pride Month: Facebook Adds New LGBTQ Features To Site, Messenger To Help Users Celebrate June

Finding the start and end of the parade route can be difficult especially if you’re in a city you’re not used to but Google maps is making it easier for people everywhere to get involved if they want. The maps show up the day of or a few days before the parade is going to happen. So cities that have their parades later in the month, like New York, don’t have the feature on their map yet.

How to use the Pride feature on Google Maps:

Open maps for whatever city you’re in that’s hosting a Pride parade. You should see a pink or rainbow line indicating the parade route. The start of the parade is indicated by the small arrow icon, the end of the parade is indicated by the flag.

Tap on the route to open up the event card about the parade. This card will tell you more information. The hours of the event, what kind of traffic conditions to expect and a website with more information will be listed on the card.

Google also says it will be incorporating the route into directions so it can provide detours for drivers looking to avoid the area. Events will also be marked in maps to indicate where events either along the route or for Pride in general will be taking place.

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The feature is already available Friday in cities where parades were underway or planned for the next few days as some Twitter users were pointing it out. Some users really liked the new feature and felt the love from Google.

Google is one of many tech giants on board with celebrating Pride this year. Snapchat has been releasing Pride filters during the weekends in June. Instagram added new stickers and filters designed by members of the LGBTQ community to the app to help users celebrate. The company also committed to painting murals in cities beginning with a rainbow wall in Los Angeles to show support. This all comes in addition to Instagram’s #KindComments campaign to spread kindness on the app. And Facebook added several new features including profile picture frames and a rainbow “Pride” reaction to the reaction bar.