Restaurant ‘Match’ Feature Now Available on Google Maps for iOS

• Google Maps for iOS received a new update today which matches users with restaurants based on their food and drink preferences.
• The new feature also throws up a percentage to indicate how likely you are to like a particular restaurant’s offerings.
• The feature has been available on Android for about a month and makes use of machine learning and artificial intelligence to offer recommendations. 

One of the fanciest Google Maps features that have been available on Android is Restaurant ‘Match’. Google collects data from its users whenever they visit restaurants and bars and notes their preferences. As you keep using the app, Google will offer accurate recommendations via the app with a percentage denoting how accurate the match is.

Google stated that the match percentage is calculated based on preferences unique to the individual. According to the tech giant “We use machine learning to generate this number, based on a few factors: what we know about a business, the food and drink preferences you’ve selected in Google Maps, places you’ve been to, and whether you’ve rated a restaurant or added it to a list.”

The app is also designed to track changes in tastes and preferences of users. The dashboard shows you why Google Maps thinks it is a match for you and you can choose to book a table or simply ignore it. You can also manually edit your food and drink preferences from within the app.

The match score will not show up for all restaurants as Google requires a certain amount of data until Google Maps can accurately match you with it. Looking at the ratings that the app offers might not be the best way to judge a restaurant but it is a unique feature that warrants being given a shot.

Even if it doesn’t offer the best of suggestions, it will not provide any bad suggestions either as Google’s own user ratings of restaurants are considered, and the app does not recommend poorly rated restaurants. Both iOS and Android users have been receiving feature updates recently for Google Maps including an incident reporting feature, CarPlay support, and editable Maps routes.

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