INTEGRATE MY MAPS LINE OR DRIVE DIRECTIONS WITH SHAPES FILE TO DISPLAY ROUTES ON ROADS?

[b4action]

Many small agencies have no ESRI ArcMap shape files. As a small
agency they have limited staff and ability to fund GIS projects for
building "shape files." What options might they have to display their
few routes on the highways or mainline roads they travel?

I've begun to notice that with "my maps" offering the ease of creating
a line made me wonder if we might capture a driving directions, on the
highway or route, saved as a "my maps" data capture, and call that
"the transit bus route display". If the capture were not the 'driving
directions' but a good approximation of a line on a road, that would
work fine, too. This would show the bus on the highway they travel on
without painstakingly building shape files. Then the Google Magic
begins: convert that "my maps" line into the automagical shape file
tables, now optional in the current spec. WOW, the customer won't see
the 'straight shot' lines that might be confusing. Looking forward to
more of your Google/transit=magic.

[T Sobota]

If your region has an MPO, you might be to check if they may have the
coded transit routes as part of their GIS/reporting functions - and
could be a source of the route traces necessary.