Walking Directions in Google Maps
Devin Braun
consequences for Google Transit:
http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2008/07/google-maps-tests-walking-directions.html
Google Maps Tests Walking Directions
"Google Maps tests a new feature: walking directions."
Devin Braun
San Diego MTS
Chris Luth
few people and for a few locations. It works fine for me--I just routed
a cross-country walk from Los Angeles to Boston! (45 or so days of
walking...)
Worked great in multiple areas I tested (Los Angeles, New York, DC).
Unfortunately, Google Transit has not integrated it into their
results--when routing a public transit trip, it still shows a curved
arrow that does not follow any streets, even though you can also get
walking directions between those locations. I hope this gets changed soon!
Mike Gilligan
incorporated into transit directions now. Very cool.
On Jul 9, 2:15 am, Chris Luth <chris.l...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Cool--it appears the blogger was wrong about them only releasing it to a
> few people and for a few locations. It works fine for me--I just routed
> a cross-country walk from Los Angeles to Boston! (45 or so days ofwalking...)
>
> Worked great in multiple areas I tested (Los Angeles, New York, DC).
> Unfortunately, Google Transit has not integrated it into their
> results--when routing a public transit trip, it still shows a curved
> Devin Braun wrote:
> > I think this is exciting news for Google Maps. It can have some nice
> > consequences for Google Transit:
>
>
> > Google Maps TestsWalkingDirections
Joe Hughes
(both standalone and in transit directions)!
http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/07/pound-pavement.html
I'm really excited about this, not only because I walk a lot of
places, but also because it makes transit routes even better for every
agency on Google Maps.
As the blog post says, these directions are still beta (in particular,
we're missing some information about things like pedestrian-only paths
& bridges), so if you find directions that are egregiously wrong,
please report them to Google (include a link to the route).
Also, these walking directions aren't available on Google Maps for
Mobile yet, but stay tuned!
Joe Hughes
Jacques chez stibus
You do not force any more our customers to swim across the river! That
is great ! Thanks Google...
No more joke; we really were waiting for this feature. That was an
actual limit to the use of GT.
Jacques Lys
Stibus, Maubeuge (France)
On 23 juil, 03:10, Joe Hughes <joe.hughes.c...@gmail.com> wrote:
> That's right, we just launched walking directions in most regions
Roger Slevin
It is good to see realistic walk routes being offered now ... although it
then makes the projection of a location onto the nearest road link a key
factor in whether the route is actually correct or not (and this is not
something over which we can have any influence, of course). I think we have
to bear this in mind - I presume that you take the objective coordinates for
a selected location (address or whatever) - and project from those
coordinates to the nearest link on the network, at right angles to that
link. Is that how this is being done?
What this development also does for systems which rely only on the
coordinates of stops to illustrate the on-bus routes is to portray the walk
route along road links ... but then project the bus journey by straight
lines between the bus stops. Do you have any plans to apply the same
routing technique used for the walk links to the bus links between each pair
of stops ... thereby obviating the need for shape files to get a realistic
route projection onto the road network?
Best wishes
Roger
Traveline south east UK
Joe Hughes
> It is good to see realistic walk routes being offered now ... although it
> then makes the projection of a location onto the nearest road link a key
> factor in whether the route is actually correct or not (and this is not
> something over which we can have any influence, of course). I think we have
> to bear this in mind - I presume that you take the objective coordinates for
> a selected location (address or whatever) - and project from those
> coordinates to the nearest link on the network, at right angles to that
> link. Is that how this is being done?
Yes, to calculate walking directions, you need to find the most
convenient points on the walking graph to the start and end of the
walking segment, and go from there. Right now the walking graph is
very similar to the road network, but I expect that they will diverge
more over time as more information about pedestrian-only paths is
added and other improvements are made.
> What this development also does for systems which rely only on the
> coordinates of stops to illustrate the on-bus routes is to portray the walk
> route along road links ... but then project the bus journey by straight
> lines between the bus stops. Do you have any plans to apply the same
> routing technique used for the walk links to the bus links between each pair
> of stops ... thereby obviating the need for shape files to get a realistic
> route projection onto the road network?
As always, I can't comment on future plans. I think it would be
unfortunate to do away with the operator-provided shapes completely,
as they're useful to non-Google consumers of transport data.
Joe
Roger Slevin
Thanks. I am not proposing to abandon shape files for those systems that
want to generate them .... but for systems whose own data is used to create
mapped routes on the fly, there is never any justification to create the
mass of data necessary to make shape files. You will appreciate that I
speak for a data supplier with several thousand routes covering a very large
geographical area. So for us, mapping routes by linking stops by the
shortest available road route is "normal" - and the lack of that option on
Google is a disadvantage in terms of how itineraries are presented on the
Google interface compared with how they are presented on our own web site at
www.travelinesoutheast.org.uk
Best wishes
Roger
-----Original Message-----
From: google...@googlegroups.com [mailto:google...@googlegroups.com]
On Behalf Of Joe Hughes
Sent: 24 July 2008 02:05
To: google...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Walking Directions in Google Maps
Jay
I don't see any new comments on Walking Directions, which is still in beta after more than three years. What are Google's plans for this feature? I guess that collecting data is the key problem and, as others suggested early on, the answer is to allow users, or a select trusted subset of users, to add (and subtract) walking routes to the grid. I'm an American currently living in England, and improved walking directions would be much appreciated here because 1) urban areas are full of pedestrian-only zones and passages, 2) rural areas are full of footpaths that are used practically and for recreation, and 3) public transit is widely used here and accurate walking links between modes is important to journey time and choice.
Feedback is welcome!
Jay
Tom Brown
US but not the England, anyone can add and improve walking paths. See
http://www.google.com/mapmaker/mapfiles/s/launched.html
Sid Burgess
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Jay
for my home town of Fairfax, VA. I sure wish I could make edits to
maps here in England. Any idea what prevents Map Maker applicability
in Europe?