Google Adds Biking Directions to Maps
Google Maps was already one of our favorite tools on the Web, thanks to its (borderline creepy) satellite images, (usually) reliable directions, and powerful search tools. The latest edition, though, has really endeared Google to many of us here at the Switched offices: biking directions.
The specific navigation tool for cyclists joins existing options for driving, walking, and public transportation. The biking guide avoids major roads and highways (as well as hills), and, wherever possible, sticks to existing bike lanes and paths.
We put the new tool through its paces and walked away impressed with the overall quality of the directions. Still, we found the maps of existing bike paths to be extremely lacking. Google identified just one major bike path in both Augusta, Georgia and Cape Cod, and failed to locate any of the existing paths on Staten Island. Manhattan and Brooklyn, however, were well represented. Even without identifying the few existing bike lanes on Staten Island, the directions did make perfectly logical sense, and successfully avoided the borough's many hills without getting too far off course.
The cycling directions will become even more useful when Google integrates them into the mobile Maps app -- which needs to happen sooner rather than later. [From: New York Times and Official Google Blog]
