Google Upgrades Coverage of Public Transportation
by Justin Thomas, Virginia on 10.21.06
Last year, Google launched a new service called "Google Transit". It was a version of Google Maps that provided directions for navigating public transportation. It was great, but it only covered one city: Portland, Oregon. Google has now added five more cities to the service: Seattle WA, Pittsburgh PA, Eugene OR, Tampa FL, and Honolulu HI.
The service is intended to help cut through the hassle of wading through various timetables and maps. Instead, you can just type your start and end addresses (and a time, if you like). In response, the system will tell you where to walk and what buses or trains to take. :: Google Transit via Worldchanging
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I wish they had "google walks". I find it frustrating to try to map things for cities like Chicago and NY that have lots of one way streets and get wild routes that I might take if I were in a car, but not if I were on foot.
Cybele,
I think what you looking for is provided by Ask.Com. They have walking directions.
See: http://www.ask.com/?tool=map
Whoa! Thanks Justin!
I'm hoping that Google also starts including roads/paths that are only open to non-motorized traffic. In the Boston area, we have lots of footbridges, multi-use paths, and nature trails that are useful for transportation (as well as recreation). Knowing where they are would help people who travel by bike, foot, horse, or rollerskates. There would probably be a need for some kind of rating system. I know at least some state DOTs have grade numbers for routes that indicate the passability by different types of traffic. Google could use those to start with, I suppose.
I imagine in the petroleum-light future there will be many more official roads that are designed for non-motorized traffic only, so Google would be well prepared if they started designing a system for a wider variety of different road types now.
cybele, don't you just need a regular map for that?! sounds like you're trying to reinvent the wheel...
CTP,
I can see a need for what Cybele is looking for. I've found myself at times in unfamiliar cities stymied as I try to walk what would appear to be a simple A to B stroll, only to find myself facing uncrossable infrastructure designed solely for cars, and with no provisions for pedestrians.