Google Maps Takes a Walk on the Healthy Side
Google Software Engineer, Andy Schwerin announced the feature on the Google Lat Long Blog this morning. He warns, however, while the feature is now available, it comes with some caveats:
"Walking directions are a new feature for Google, and while I'm pretty excited about it, there are some rough edges that compel us to release it in "beta." Walking directions work well for short trips in urban areas, but we don't always know if a street has a sidewalk, or if there's actually a special pedestrian bridge for crossing a busy street. There are still a lot of pedestrian pathways we don't know about, and they might save you some time if you find them. We're working on collecting new data on pedestrian pathways and on more effective ways to solicit your feedback, so that we can steadily improve this feature and get you where you need to be as efficiently as possible."
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Credit: Google |
In all seriousness, if you give yourself the time and the weather permits, walking relatively short distances can be good for your health and show you places you might have missed otherwise. Also, as Schwerin points out, "city centers are always a maze of one-way streets and no-left-turns;" so sometimes walking can get you to your destination just as quick as driving--especially when those streets are heavily congested with barely moving traffic. Heck, if you can walk instead of drive, you might even be doing your part to help the global climate.