Google recently introduced some awesome features making it easier for folks to find parking spaces in major cities. It's currently limited to 25 U.S. cities and only works on the Android app, but may expand to other cities and devices in coming years.

If you've spent any time circling urban streets for an elusive parking spot, try this.

Parking Help in Google Maps

The feature, announced in late August, makes it easy for anyone in the following U.S. cities to find a parking spot:

  • Atlanta
  • Boston
  • Charlotte
  • Chicago
  • Cleveland
  • Dallas/Fort Worth
  • DC
  • Denver
  • Detroit
  • Houston
  • Los Angeles
  • Miami
  • Minneapolis/St. Paul
  • New York City
  • Orlando
  • Philadelphia
  • Phoenix
  • Pittsburgh
  • Portland
  • San Diego
  • Sacramento
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • St. Louis
  • Tampa

So how does it work?

When searching for directions, pull up Route Info. You'll see some information on parking difficulty for your destination, along with a link to find parking. Tapping that link pulls up a list of parking locations, and makes it easy to add that address to your directions so you're sure you won't lose your way.

Google Maps will also add walking directions from your parking spot to your final destination. The list of parking destinations are also categorized to include parking lots, parking garages, and valet services.

Other Google Maps Parking Features

While only those 25 cities can benefit from actually finding parking, a few other major U.S. and international cities can at least be mentally prepared for how hard it's going to be to park once they get to their destination.

Parking difficult icons are available for both iOS and Android users in the following U.S. cities:

  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • Miami
  • Atlanta
  • Boston
  • Charlotte
  • Chicago
  • Detroit
  • Los Angeles
  • Minneapolis/St. Paul
  • New York City
  • Orlando
  • Philadelphia
  • Pittsburgh
  • San Diego
  • St. Louis
  • Tampa
  • Washington
  • DC
  • Cleveland
  • Dallas/Fort Worth
  • Denver
  • Houston
  • Phoenix
  • Portland
  • Sacramento

They also just recently became available for iOS and Android users in the following international cities:

  • Alicante
  • Amsterdam
  • Copenhagen
  • Barcelona
  • Cologne
  • Darmstadt
  • Dusseldorf
  • London
  • Madrid
  • Malaga
  • Manchester
  • Milan
  • Montreal
  • Moscow
  • Munich
  • Paris
  • Prague
  • Rio de Janeiro
  • Rome
  • Sao Paulo
  • Stockholm
  • Stuttgart
  • Toronto
  • Valencia
  • Vancouver

Google Maps uses three options for parking -- easy, medium, and limited -- and bases its rating off of historical parking data.

What do you think of Google's parking features? Want to see them in more cities and on more platforms? Let us know in the comments.

Image Credit: Simply CVR via Flickr