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Gemini can use public Google Maps information to find places, show details such as addresses and opening hours, and answer route questions. It may also use your saved Work and Home locations or, with the relevant access, your device’s location. That does not mean Gemini can browse your entire Maps account: Google lists clear limits on saved places, location history, live traffic, and reviews.
What Gemini can do with Google Maps
Google says Gemini can look up businesses, restaurants, parks, attractions, and other places using public Maps information. It can return a place’s address, description, website, rating, or opening hours, and provide directions based on a travel mode. You can ask it to avoid tolls where that option is supported. Google’s place-and-directions help gives examples such as asking for the closest coffee shop and when it opens, or for walking time between Buckingham Palace and Big Ben.
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For example, you can ask, “Where’s the closest coffee shop and what time does it open?” or “Find me a park with a playground that’s within a 10 min drive from where I am now.” These are Google’s examples, not a guarantee that every query will work identically in every region or Gemini surface.
When Gemini links a place, you may be able to open its Google Maps details page. Depending on availability, that page can offer actions such as directions, calling, a restaurant menu, or links to the place’s website or social account. Google describes these place-detail features as gradually rolling out; it currently states eligibility conditions of age 18 or older, a personal Google Account, and English-language place questions. These rollout conditions may change and should not be assumed to apply universally.
What “Maps access” means—and what it does not
Public place information
Google says Gemini automatically uses public information from Google Maps. That supports public place lookups; it is not, by itself, permission to inspect personal Maps content. Google says Gemini does not access personal information or content in connected services without permission. Connected Apps and Personal Intelligence are separate routes for eligible users and services, not a consequence of asking a Maps question. Google’s Connected Apps help explains the distinction.
Saved Work and Home locations
Gemini can use the Work and Home locations saved in your Google Account to help with directions. Google’s feature help says the documented Maps connection cannot use other saved places. It also cannot save location history, provide live traffic updates, or add a review. Those limits distinguish a Gemini answer about a route from the full set of features in the Google Maps app. Google lists these unsupported actions.
Current location
Without precise device location, Gemini may estimate a general area using information such as your IP address or the Work and Home addresses in your account. With permission, Gemini Apps can process precise location from your device. Google also says Gemini may receive precise location from another Google service, such as Maps, even if precise-location access in the Google app is off. This describes a possible service-to-service route; it does not establish that every Maps-related prompt shares precise location. Google’s Privacy Hub explains these location sources.
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Location used for an answer versus location saved in activity
Google distinguishes information Gemini processes to answer a request from information stored with Gemini Apps Activity. Precise location processed with permission from a device or browser is not stored in Gemini Apps Activity. Location that Gemini Apps processes is coarsened to a general area before it is stored with activity. Google defines that general area as larger than 3 square kilometers and containing at least 1,000 users. These statements concern Google’s described handling; they do not mean a location can never appear in activity.
If you type a specific address or place into a prompt, or Gemini names it in a response, that location may be present in the chat content. Google’s Privacy Hub also points users to mobile-app location permissions and Gemini Apps Activity controls. On the Gemini web app, a blue indicator means it has access to and is using precise location; a gray indicator means it is not. The precise-location status can be updated from the menu. See Google’s location and activity guidance.
Requirements and availability
For the Maps place feature, Google says you must be signed in to a Gemini account and have Keep Activity turned on. Google’s Connected Apps documentation likewise says public information from Maps, Flights, Hotels, and YouTube requires Keep Activity to be on. Public Google Search information can still be used with Keep Activity off or while signed out, but that exception does not apply to the documented Maps feature.
Connected Apps settings do not switch off Gemini’s automatic use of public information from Maps and the other listed services. The feature is not available in Live chats or Gemini in Google Messages, according to Google’s feature help. Availability of connected features can also vary by location, language, device, and Gemini app, so check the controls shown in your own app. Connected Apps requirements and Maps feature availability.
How to check the relevant controls
- Confirm sign-in and Keep Activity. Check that you are using a signed-in Gemini account and that Keep Activity is on; Google lists both as requirements for the Maps feature.
- Review Connected Apps. In Gemini, open Settings and review Connected Apps. These settings concern connected-service access and do not control Gemini’s automatic use of public Maps information.
- Check location permission and status. Review Gemini’s location permission in your device or browser settings. In the Gemini web app, use the location indicator and its menu to see whether precise location is available and being used.
- Review or delete activity if needed. Use Gemini Apps Activity controls to review or delete saved activity. Keep in mind that a place explicitly included in chat text may remain part of that content.
Google’s Privacy Hub describes location controls and activity handling. Its Gemini Apps Privacy Notice was last updated June 29, 2026; Google does not state a numbered Gemini app version for the behavior described here. Google’s Privacy Notice gives the broader notice scope.
What Google does not document publicly
Google’s public help describes user-facing capabilities and privacy handling, but it does not provide a complete per-prompt data-flow trace or disclose the exact internal Maps requests used to answer each question. The available documentation therefore supports the features and limits above, not a claim about every internal step Gemini takes for a particular prompt.
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