Registered user login:

CultureTech

CultureTech

Iain Simons casts his excitable red-eyes over the entire sphere of CultureTech. He will in turn be commentator, evangelist, analyst and oft-frustrated lover as he ambles along the cutting edge

CultureTech Homepage

You'll never walk alone

  • Posted by Iain Simons
  • 23 July 2008

Google Maps has created a ‘walking’ feature making traversing city streets rather more straightforward for those who travel by foot, reports Iain Simons

If, like me, you spend much of your travelling alone to unfamiliar cities, ultimately finding yourself stood in a city street unsure of where to turn, then Google has released something which may be of interest.

Already embedded on many mobile phones, Google Maps has added a ‘walking’ feature to the direction finder within their application making traversing city streets rather more straightforward for those who travel by foot.

As explained nicely in the blog release, this will begin to fix the problem of pedestrians being forced on longer routes because they are respecting the restrictions imposed on drivers (one-way streets etc..).

Whilst still very much in beta (as this example demonstrates - failing to acknowledge the walk through a park) it’s a nice addition to an already efficient app, although it’s only really going to have real value to the mainstream user when public transport data is effectively implemented too.

Google maps

Post this article to

  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • newsvine
  • Reddit

2 comments from readers

Lane7
23 July 2008 at 20:02

Great idea, Iain, the maps and the walking routes, but I do think part of the fun of going somewhere new is in NOT knowing where you are or what is going on.

I once spent a week in a Spanish village at fiesta time going everywhere the long way round because those were the routes I learned dancing through the streets at night; only towards the end of the week in daylight hours did I learn that the village was in fact much smaller than I'd thought. Maybe in the future being a tourist sans Google Maps etc will qualify as some kind of extreme tourism game...

Lane

www.lane7.wordpress.com

gnuneo
23 July 2008 at 20:23

"Maybe in the future being a tourist sans Google Maps etc will qualify as some kind of extreme tourism game..."

ROFL :D

and for the exceptionally venturesome, even leaving their mobile behind!!!

(even reading that probably made some teenagers go queasy... ;) )

Post your comment

Please note: you will need to login or register before your comment is displayed on the website

We want to encourage people to comment on our content and to exchange views with other readers and hope this will be done on a courteous basis. However, if you encounter posts which are offensive please let us know by emailing comments@newstatesman.co.uk and we will take swift action where necessary.

About the writer

Iain Simons

Iain Simons writes, talks and tweets about videogames and technology. His new book, Play Britannia, is to be published in 2009. He is the director of the GameCity festival at Nottingham Trent University.

Recent Posts

Something Orisinal

  • By Iain Simons
  • 03 October 2008

Evolution of LittleBigPlanet

  • By Iain Simons
  • 01 October 2008

SFTW: Nitrome

  • By Iain Simons
  • 26 September 2008

The G-boys' Android

  • By Iain Simons
  • 26 September 2008

Campaign

  • By Iain Simons
  • 19 September 2008

US politics and the internet

  • By Iain Simons
  • 18 September 2008

Boomshine

  • By Iain Simons
  • 12 September 2008