Google Maps, in addition to showing you the shortest route from point A to point B, also suggests places that might interest you based on the data it has about you. For a long time it has been possible to tell Google Maps what you like and what you don’t like – for example, sushi and places with good views – to which the configuration of the areas that interest you.
Google Maps recommendations are grouped in the tab What’s new?, where you will generally find recommendations for places around you. However, in the Google Maps settings you can specify specific areas that interest you or not, to receive -or not- recommendations in them.
I recommend things here, but not here
Let’s say you live in a boring neighborhood and you usually go to a different area for leisure. Google Maps recommendations in your home would focus on your area, so they would not be of much use to you. It may also be useful to keep up with news from another area if you are about to go on vacation to another place.
Google Maps gives you control over where you want to receive notifications from and where not from from its settings. To do this, you must enter the Google Maps settings and tap on Manage your zones. There are two sections to choose from: areas that interest you and areas that do not interest you.
Tapping on any of them opens the map selector Same as appears when downloading maps for offline use. You will have to zoom in or out on the map until it includes the area of your interest, although finally it will be the application that adds the areas or districts to the list.
For example, selecting a square on the map could add 3 areas of interest, but later you can delete some of them by pressing the X icon. The process is exactly the same both to add areas that interest you and those that you do not want to know anything about.
Google uses this information to show you more updates on the areas that interest you and less on those that don’t. This data will be used in conjunction with other preferences that you have indicated or that Google has deduced from you, and you should see the change later in the News tab.