Google Finally Adds Walking Directions to Google Maps!

Via the Google Lat Long Blog, Google has announced that, it has now added 'Walking Directions' to Google Maps that would now enable users to map pedestrian ways from point 'A' to point 'B' even before they step out of their door. Just liked driving directions, Google can now find ways to a location for pedestrians, by mapping the easiest, fastest and safest pedestrian pathways. At present, this service is in beta, therefore, only a handful of locations are available. But, Google intends to add more location over the time. Here is how you can choose to see the walking direction in Google Maps.

Let's assume that you want to go the Seattle Aquarium from your hotel and you know that, you can easily make it on foot. So you take the 'driving directions' from Google Maps and head on your way on foot to reach your destination. The only problem is that the driving directions take into account the numerous contortions, one-way streets and no left turns. Hence, you reach at the museum through a longer route, whereas, you could have reached there earlier had you known the walking directions.

Now when you check 'walking directions; in Google Maps for the same destination, you find that it would take a lot less time to get to the museum.

According to Google, “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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