"Bicycling" direction added in Google Maps

After Google Apps Marketplace, Google is back again with a new feature in Google Maps.

Google maps, one of the most popular product of Google, expand its directions. Along with car, public transit and walking directions, now bicycling direction will also be available. The feature is advantage for bicycle riders and will also provoke others to use cycles by providing convenient routes.

Eminence of “Bicycling” direction
The new feature of Google includes bicycling directions, outlining of bike trials on the map and a bicycling layer, that includes bike trials, bike lanes and bike friendly roads.

Bicycling directions are similar to those of driving, walking and public transit directions.

Once the riders choose “Bicycling” from the drop down menu and a starting point, the map shows the best and efficient route that saves time and effort by avoiding hilly terrain. Google has used green colour to highlight bike paths and bike lanes.

The beta version is offering bicycling direction throughout U.S. but the cycling route is currently available for 150 major cities in U.S.

In the next few months, Google is expected to extend its bike trials and route coverage and improve the quality of bicycle directions.

The online search giant shows trial data of more than 12,000 miles given by Rails–to–Trials Conservancy in partnership with Google.

Google back again
Google, after an application software for businesses, is back with a new feature in Google Maps making the competition tougher for its competitors.

In Google Map searches, 10 percent searches are for walking direction. Google is awaiting feedback from its bicycle route viewers as it is the most requested feature of Google Maps.

Peter Birch, a Google product manager and avid cyclist told Bicycle Retailer news “At Google, we love problems of scale. We’ve done directions for driving, directions for transit and directions for walking. Everyone asks us, ‘What about biking?’ I’m very proud to say bicycling directions for Google maps is live and available.”

Product Manager of Google Shannon Guymon, who led the project, told Web Apps news, “We wanted to include as much bike trail data as possible, provide efficient routes, allow riders to customize their trip, make use of bike lanes, calculate rider-friendly routes that avoid big hills and customize the look of the map for cycling to encourage folks to hop on their bikes. So that's exactly what we've done."