Google Maps learns how to walk

[ckd]

The Google Maps blog notes that they now have walking directions. It's beta, like almost everything Google does these days, but still looks like a good start.

Collecting good data for this is going to be the big challenge.

(In other news, Readercon was great. I took a fair amount of panel notes, and plan to distill them into one or more posts.)

ETA: if you're walking in an area covered by Street View, it puts little camera icons next to the steps, so you can see what the cross street will look like. Wow.

Comments

[sethb.livejournal.com]

It would be cool if they had bicycle directions, too.

[ron_newman]

For that, I'd use either the walking directions or the "Avoid highways" car directions.

[sethb.livejournal.com]

It won't show walking from work to home (10+ miles driving, 13 miles by bike).

"Avoid highways" doesn't work: it tried to route me over a "no bicycles" segment of MN 55 once. (Aside from the first few hundred feet, there wouldn't have been a problem, because there's a bike trail along the rest of it. But that first part was the only way to cross another highway.)

[ron_newman]

But if it's only a few hundred feet, why not just ride on it anyway?

[sethb.livejournal.com]

It seemed too risky.

Police use it, too.

[yendi]

I don't think there's a way for Google to tell you, "dodge that car door opened by the asshole who double parked and didn't check his mirror before getting out."

[sethb.livejournal.com]

I don't much worry about that. I figure 250 lbs at 25 mph will take off the door and only slow me down.