At your service: planned NYC subway changes now in Google Maps

Since first making New York City public transit directions available in Google Maps, we’ve been working to deliver you with the most accurate and useful information about subway, bus, commuter rail, and ferry service across the greater metro area. Starting today, we’ll also be showing planned service alerts for the city’s subways, which serve more than 1 billion riders each year.

Have you ever arrived at a subway platform only to find that the train you intended to take is skipping stops, rerouted on another line, or isn't running at all due to scheduled maintenance? Now when you click on any of the 468 New York City subway stations labeled on Google Maps, you’ll see whether any planned service changes are expected to affect that station at the time. In addition, the relevant alerts will be included in the step-by-step transit directions pointing you wherever you’re going.

Get transit service alerts on your desktop browser

If you’re looking to find the best route to see a concert after work or checking for any expected delays when already running late, this feature works when you’re online via maps.google.com and Google Maps for Mobile on Android. To adjust your travel around the alerts you see, simply choose another suggested route or change your departure time.

Get transit service alerts on Google Maps for Android

We’re regularly adding new cities and features globally and looking forward to continuing our efforts to make travel by public transportation a better experience in more than 400 regions around the world. For everybody who lives in one of New York City’s five boroughs, commutes in and out every day or is visiting for business or vacation, we hope today’s update improves the ease and efficiency of your trips around the city.

Posted by Csaba Garay, Transit Partner Technology Manager, Google Maps

Map of the Week: Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG with Google Maps API

(Cross-posted on the Google Geo Developers blog)

Map of the Week: Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG with Google Maps API
Why we like it: This Google Maps API implementation really speaks to the versatility of the API and breadth of the Google Maps API developer ecosystem! From small personal projects to exciting start-ups and high-performance cars, the Google Maps API can be used by everyone.

As you would expect, this top of the line Mercedes-Benz is loaded with all the bells and whistles. The vehicle’s integrated navigation system will be enhanced in certain regions by a fully functional JavaScript Maps API v3 implementation using Styled Maps, Google Places API, Places Autocomplete API, traffic layer, and the Panoramio layer as an Android App for the AMG Performance Media option. This provides the user with a familiar Google Maps interface in addition to the onboard maps from the navigation system.

(Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Gullwing Coupe at the O’Reilly Where Conference - April 2012)

For night time driving the SLS AMG takes advantage of Styled Maps to create a map that’s easier to view in low-light situations and does not impede a driver’s night vision.

Chances are, if you’re driving this around all day, you’re going to get very hungry. That’s where the Places API integration with Places Autocomplete API comes in handy. Drivers can enter in what they’re looking for it, be it Thai food or pizza and the vehicle will return a list of nearby places along with address, distance, and rating.

Once the Places API has helped you decide what to eat and where you need to go, you can view the destination in Google Street View. In the image below, the system is displaying Street View imagery directly in front of the hotel in San Francisco where the vehicle was located for the 2012 O’Reilly Where Conference. From there you can enter directions that are displayed on a Google Map along with the option to display current traffic.

The engineers at Daimler have done an amazing job of taking Google Maps and combining it with one of the most-loved automobiles. There are many different types of developers in the Google Maps API ecosystem and great implementations like this remind us that the possibilities are almost endless!

Posted by Carlos Cuesta, Google Maps API Product Marketing Manager

An easy way to access directions and locations you care about

If you’re anything like me, you might use Google Maps to look up the same places and directions more than once, like the location of your hotel while you’re on vacation, or directions to a friend’s house that you’ve visited before. When you’re signed in to your Google account, the My Places tab on Google Maps makes it easy to find starred locations, places you’ve rated and checked-in, saved Custom Maps, and even past local searches.

Now, when you visit My Places, you’ll see directions you’ve recently looked up appear on the panel to the left of the map. You can also filter the results to access only these previous directions from the ‘More’ tab.



This historical archive of directions results makes it quicker and easier to continue planning later. For example, if you have a few minutes to spare during the day and use your work computer to search for directions from your house to the restaurant where you’re meeting friends for dinner, you can easily access those same directions from your home computer via My Places once you’re ready to head out. We’ll even remember when you’ve customized your directions by dragging the blue line to your preferred path, and show that you route again.

These past directions and places will only appear for signed-in users who enable Web History. And like other items in My Places, it’s simple to remove any of the locations or directions via the drop-down arrow next to each item.

Whenever you need to access or organize your important places and directions, just visit Google Maps and click on the My Places button to get started.

Update (2/15): Sorry for the delay, but the new feature for viewing saved directions in My Places will be available soon. We'll update this post again when the feature is live.

Update (2/18):  The feature is now live on Google Maps. Thank you for your patience!

Posted by Tatsuo Nomura, Software Engineer, Google Maps

Google Earth 6.2: It’s a beautiful world

(Cross-posted on the Official Google and SketchUp blogs)

We're taking bird's eye view to a whole new level with the latest version of Google Earth, released today. With Google Earth 6.2, we’re bringing you the most beautiful Google Earth yet, with more seamless imagery and a new search interface. Additionally, we’ve introduced a feature that enables you to share an image from within Google Earth, so you can now simply and easily share your virtual adventures with family and friends on Google+.

A seamless globe


The Google Earth globe is made from a mosaic of satellite and aerial photographs taken on different dates and under different lighting and weather conditions. Because of this variance, views of the Earth from high altitude can sometimes appear patchy.

Today, we’re introducing a new way of rendering imagery that smoothes out this quilt of images. The end result is a beautiful new Earth-viewing experience that preserves the unique textures of the world’s most defining geographic landscapes—without the quilt effect. This change is being made on both mobile and desktop versions of Google Earth. While this change will appear on all versions of Google Earth, the 6.2 release provides the best viewing experience for this new data.

Grand Canyon before and after

Sri Lanka before and after

Share your explorations with Google+
Google Earth is a great way to virtually explore the globe, whether revisiting old haunts or checking out a future vacation spot. With the Google Earth 6.2 update, we’ve added the option to share a screenshot of your current view in Google Earth through Google+. If you’ve already upgraded to Google+, you can share images of the places you’ve virtually traveled to with your Circles, such as family, friends or your local hiking club. To try this new feature, simply sign in to your Google Account in the upper right hand corner of Google Earth and click “Share.” Images of mountains, oceans, deserts, 3D cities, your favorite pizza shop on Street View—you can now experience all these amazing places around the world with people on Google+.


Search improvements
We’ve also made some updates to the search feature in Google Earth. Aside from streamlining the visual design of the search panel, we’ve enabled the same Autocomplete feature that’s available on Google Maps. We’ve also introduced search layers, which will show all the relevant search results (not just the top ten), so now, when looking for gelato in Milano, you can see all the tasty possibilities. Finally, we’ve added biking, transit and walking directions, so if you’re itching for a change of scenery or looking for a new route for your regular commute, you can now use Google Earth to generate and visualize all your options.

Biking directions in Google Earth

Download Google Earth 6.2 and start exploring and sharing today!

Posted by Peter Birch, Product Manager, Google Earth

New Biking Directions Legend

If you’re looking for new ways to get around for fun or to work, or might be trying to live a greener lifestyle in 2012, why not try biking? In March 2010 we introduced biking directions and since then Google Maps has been sharing biking directions with cyclists across the U.S and Canada.

Since no bike path is the same, many users have requested an easier way to differentiate the different types of bike routes that are available. Starting today, a new legend feature can help you understand what the different colors on the bike maps symbolize.

• Dark green is for dedicated trails and paths
• Light green is for roads with dedicated lanes
• Dotted green is for roads that are friendly for cyclists

Look for the biking legend in the upper right hand corner of the map

You can view this legend by clicking on the widget in upper right corner of Google Maps and selecting the Bicycling layer. You can also access biking directions on your Android device or by going to maps.google.com on your mobile browser.

Whether you want to drive, take transit, walk or even bike, Google Maps can help you get around. To see how it works on your Android phone take a tour here.

Posted by Dave Kim, Product Marketing Manager, Google Maps

Take the green route in Google Maps

(Cross posted from the Google Green Blog)

We’ve learned that most people who use Google Maps just want to get from Point A to Point B -- as quickly and painlessly as possible. Whether it’s planning a weekend bike route, finding the quickest roads during rush hour, or identifying bus paths with the fewest transfers, people are making the most out of Maps features to travel faster and greener. Here’s how you can use Google Maps to minimize your impact on the environment.

Commuting by bike
As an avid cyclist, I feel very fortunate to live in Boulder, Colorado and be surrounded by over 300 miles of bike lanes, routes and paths. When the weather is cooperating, I try to commute to work every day. It’s a great way to stay healthy and arrive at the office feeling awake! According to Biking Directions in Google Maps, it takes me 10 minutes to travel 2 miles from Point A (my house) to Point B (the office). It also shows three alternative routes, and I can check the weather in Google Maps to see if I’ll need a rain jacket for the ride home. I can also use Biking Directions on my mobile phone, which came in handy for me during a biking trip in Austin when I got lost on a major highway and needed a safe route back to the hotel.

Did you know that Google Maps has biking directions available in over 200 US cities and in 9 Canadian regions? A collaboration with Rails to Trails, an organization that converts old railroad tracks into bike paths, has made information about over 12,000 miles of bike paths available to Google Maps users.

Taking public transit

Millions of people use Google Transit every week, viewing public transit routes on both Google Maps and Google Maps for mobile in over 470 cities around the world. You can take a train from Kyoto to Osaka or find your way around London on the Tube. In some places, you can compare the cost of taking public transit and driving by viewing the calculation below the list of directions (like in this example). Feel free to customize your routes and departure and arrival times under “Show options” to minimize walking or limit the number of transfers. You’ll know if your bus is late by checking out live transit updates.

Being green in the car
According to the 2011 Urban Mobility Report by Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University, motorists wasted 1.9 billion gallons of fuel last year in the US because of traffic congestion, costing the average commuter an additional $713 in commuting costs. You can save time and money by clicking on the Traffic layer in the top right corner to view real-time traffic conditions on your route, and then drag and adjust your route to green. If you need directions in advance, save paper by sending your directions directly to your car, GPS, or phone. The Send-to-Car feature is available to more than 20 car brands worldwide, and the Send-to-GPS feature is available to more than 10 GPS brands. And for those of you who drive electric vehicles, you can search for electric vehicle charging stations by typing “ev charging station in [your city]” and recharge.

As you can see, Google Maps is loaded with features to help you save time, save money, and get where you need to be -- all while minimizing your commute’s impact on the environment. Go green with Google Maps, and safe travels!

Posted by Tasha Danko, Geo Team

Getting from ‘Here to there’ with My Location in Google Maps

When getting directions on Google Maps, we suggest an origin or destination after you type the first few characters. But, we want to save you even more time by eliminating the need to type your current address each time. Today you can start using ‘My Location’ as a starting or ending point for your directions using the familiar ‘blue dot’ found in Google Maps for mobile.

Directions with ‘My Location’ enabled
Now when you get directions on Google Maps, you’ll see “My Location” in the starting location field. All that is left for you is to fill in the destination and hit “Get Directions”.

The first time you use “My Location,” your browser will ask you to allow Google Maps to get your approximate physical location. If you accept, the dot next to “My Location” will turn from grey to blue, indicating Google Maps has retrieved your current location.

Depending on your browser, you can choose to have Google Maps ask you every time you use the “My Location” feature, or to remember your setting for Google Maps. You can also always opt-out by revoking the permission in your browser’s settings.

This feature is possible thanks to modern browsers supporting the GeoLocation API. If you are using one of the supporting browsers--Firefox V3.5+, Google Chrome, Opera 10.6+, Internet Explorer 9.0+, and Safari 5--Google Maps can use this technology to approximate your current location and use it as an origin or destination point.

To help you manage your privacy, Google Maps does not save your location when you enable this feature. You can also easily turn off the “My Location” feature and control your browser's ability to provide your location to Google Maps through the browser's settings.

With “My Location”, a second or two saved every time you get directions on Google Maps can add up!

Posted by Noam Ben Haim, Product Manager

Helicopter view of your driving directions on Google Maps

Update Oct 3, 12:00 pm: In order to use 3D driving directions, you'll need to have the Google Earth plug-in installed on your computer.

Getting directions is one of the most popular features on Google Maps, whether it be for driving, walking, biking or transit. Today, we are launching a new feature that allows you to bring your upcoming trip to life, by allowing you to preview your route in 3D.

Let’s say you’re planning a road trip down the beautiful coast of California’s Highway 1 and want to be able to see what the route really looks like. California’s rugged coastline is not to be missed, but the top-down view really doesn’t give you a good sense of what this majestic terrain is like. Using the 3D preview; however, you can get aerial view of the route, as if you were in a helicopter flying above the road.

To preview your own route, it is as simple as clicking on a button. Start by entering your starting point, destination, and mode of transport like any directions; in this case, driving directions from ‘Carmel CA to Big Sur CA.’ Then, just click on the “3D” play button. The map will switch to Earth view and automatically start flying you along your recommended route.

You can pause the flight at any time by clicking anywhere in the 3D view or on the pause button in the lower left. While the flight is paused, you can explore the surrounding area in 3D by clicking and dragging the map. When you are ready to resume the flight, simply click on the play button in the lower left of the 3D view.

To help you keep track of which step you are on, the current leg of the trip is highlighted in the left panel. You can also jump to a different part of the trip by clicking on a different step.

You can get back to 2D mode by clicking on the “2D” button in the left panel at any time.

We hope you enjoy your flight.

Paul Yang, Google Maps engineer

Refocused Design Evolution, Continued

In June we launched the start of a comprehensive visual redesign for Google Maps founded on three key principles: focus, elasticity, and effortlessness. This week we’re continuing to implement that philosophy by improving and evolving a few key features.
Our new pin

Perhaps the most notable change is an update to the styling and color of our iconic pins across all Google properties. This change reflects our interface’s recent design evolution, introducing a more harmonious visual relationship between the on-map markers and the map itself.


Our on-map controls are also now more visually aligned with the rest of our design system. Together these changes reflect our recent efforts to reduce unnecessary clutter and give greater priority to information on the map.



In the header we’re also introducing more prominent buttons for Directions and My places integrated into an elastic interface that expands and contracts to best fit your browser window size.

Putting all of these changes together you get:





We hope you find this a welcome update making Google Maps more functional, effortless, and enjoyable. This is just one part of the many design updates that will continue rolling out across Google Maps in the coming weeks and months, so keep an eye out for more!

Posted by Willem Van Lancker, User Experience & Visual Designer

+Snippets on Google Maps: if you can see it, you can share it

[Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog]

We recently launched +snippets for users and publishers, making it easy to visit a webpage and then share it on Google+. We want to make sharing across Google just as easy, so today we're bringing +snippets to Google Maps.

Suppose you’re planning a weekend trip to Napa. Your packing list probably includes driving directions, hotel information and a list of nearby wineries. Many of you visit Google Maps for this kind of information already. But with +snippets, Google+ users can easily share directions or places (for example) with fellow travelers. Just click “Share...” in the Google+ bar at the top of the screen, and whatever you see on Maps is what you’ll see in the sharebox—ready to share with your circles:

+Snippets on Google Maps: Directions, Places, search results

With today’s launch, Google Maps joins other Google products like Books, Offers and Product Search in having +snippets. And like Maps, what you see onscreen is what you share—just click on “Share...” in the Google+ bar to reveal the +snippet:

+Snippets on Google Books, Offers and Product Search

We’ll be rolling out +snippets to many more Google products in the future, so stay tuned. In the meantime, we can’t wait to see how other publishers customize their own +snippets, all across the web.

Posted by Bradley Horowitz, Vice President of Product Management

See more views with the new Google Maps widget

When we launched Google Maps, we had one layer -- the map. Since then, we’ve added more than ten different ways to explore the world around you, including photos, transit and traffic information, as well as satellite and terrain views. We’ve now updated the design so that you can more easily see and switch between the various viewing options that are available.

Suppose you’re planning to meet your friend for a concert at the Greek Theater in Berkeley, and you want driving directions to plan your trip from your apartment in San Francisco. When accessing Google Maps, you’ll see a new widget in the upper right corner that allows you to easily select from either the Maps, satellite or Earth view. In addition, the single widget icon showcases all the different layers available to you, enabling you to quickly see more detailed information just by mousing over the ones you want.

Since it’s nearly rush hour and traffic information would be useful, you select that layer by clicking on it in the widget:

Unfortunately, the traffic layer shows that there are heavy delays along your route. You wonder if taking public transit is a better option, so you turn off the traffic layer by clicking on it again, and turn on the transit layer instead:

Ah, it looks like there’s a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station near your apartment and one near the Greek Theatre. Public transit it is! If you also want to find a local spot to grab dinner after the show, you could search for [restaurants] in the same Google Maps window. Your recently viewed searches will appear in the new widget, enabling you to easily see both your destination and search results at the same time. This makes it easy to find a place nearby.

We hope this new all-inclusive widget for accessing map types, layers and recently viewed searches improves your experience exploring and navigating to the places you want to go!

Update (1/20): Sorry for the delay, but the new widget for viewing map types, layers and recent searches will be available soon. We'll update this post again when the widget is live.

Update (1/24): The widget is now live for all users on Google Maps. We hope you’ll enjoy exploring all the useful information available right on the map!

Posted by Amanda Leicht, Product Manager

Directions, the way you want them

We recently released advanced options for getting public transit directions on Google Maps, helping you customize your route based on your personal preferences.

We work hard to provide the right results to get from A to B, but sometimes riders have their own preferences. For example, you might not mind a longer journey if it means fewer transfers; or you may prefer traveling by bus or train, rather than subway, to have views of your route. You can now specify these preferences and alter your route results by clicking the “Show options” link below your destination:

We hope that this new feature makes it easier for you to find your way! To get started, please visit maps.google.com/transit.

Posted by Noam Ben-Haim, Product Manager

How to find directions online (and 50 other things you might want to teach your parents)

Everything really is bigger in Texas, as my parents found out when they moved to Houston from Kansas in early November. Since moving, my mom - who openly admits that navigation isn’t her strongest suit - was getting lost quite often as she settled into her new hometown. She found herself spending just as much time trying to find the grocery store as doing the actual shopping. So when I headed home for Thanksgiving, I gave her a quick lesson on how easy it is to find directions online using Google Maps.

With millions of people travelling across county and state lines for the holidays, my mom probably isn’t the only one who could use a quick tutorial on how to get simple, easy to understand, and accurate turn-by-turn directions.

That’s why a bunch of Googlers got together to create a website - TeachParentsTech.org - that enables kids to send basic how-to videos to mom, dad, or even grandma. Check out this video in which I show just how easy it is to get from Point A to Point B with the help of Google Maps.



To see more videos, or to send someone a tech support care package of your own, make sure to visit TeachParentsTech.org.

Posted by Preston Hershorn, Product Marketing Manager

Gearing up: Biking directions added to Google Maps for Canada

Earlier this year, we added biking directions to Google Maps for the United States, enabling users to more easily find their way when they’d like to take a two-wheeled alternative to walking, driving or public transit. Today we’re expanding biking directions to select regions in Canada: Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton, Kelowna, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Gatineau and Waterloo.

Biking directions on Google Maps enables you to hop on your bike and get from point A to point B, whether you’re planning your daily commute, plotting out your weekend ride, or taking a lunch break. These biking directions easily integrate with all the other Google Maps features, so you can do a local business search to find a great new cafe, read reviews to help you decide if it’s right for you, get biking directions over to it, and pull up Street View to preview your route.


We’ve factored in variables such as hills and bike lanes, and have color-coded roads based on their biking suitability. Dark green indicates a dedicated bike-only trail; lighter green indicates a dedicated bike lane along a road; and the dotted green line indicates roads that do not have bike lanes but tend to be suitable for biking. Just like with driving directions, you can drag the route to customize your trip.


We’ve partnered with a number of Canadian cities, as well as the National Capital Commission, to provide this useful information to cyclists. Ottowa Mayor Larry O’Brien also shared his perspective at the recent Sustainable Mobility Summit.

“The City of Ottawa has always placed a high importance on encouraging residents to use sustainable transportation alternatives like cycling. By having the City's paths, bike lanes and suggested routes available on Google Maps we are providing a convenient, accessible technology for our residents to plan their cycling trips to where they work, live and play.”

City planning agencies can learn more about opportunities to add their data to Google Maps by visiting to maps.google.com/content.

To get started finding biking directions in Canada, visit maps.google.ca/biking. We encourage all riders to help make our biking directions more complete by reporting any missing route information or problems via the “Report a Problem” tool.

Posted by Shannon Guymon, Product Manager

Getting from A to B just got a little easier

Over the past year, the Google Maps Directions team has been hard at work developing a variety of design improvements to make getting and following directions much easier.

It’s now simpler than ever to switch transport modes, change the time/date of your trip, get a high-level overview comparing different routes, and view details of a single trip at-a-glance.


To explore these improvements in more depth, let’s imagine that you’re planning a trip to visit the beautiful city of Zürich, and would like to take public transportation from the airport to your destination in town.

We’ve made it super quick and easy for you to see all the available modes of transportation when you’re planning a route - you can see that driving, public transit, and walking are all available in this area. The options for setting a time and date for your trip are also now open by default for public transit:


Having selected your start location and end destination, you are presented with a series of suggested routes to take you from A to B. Each description is now much richer, making it easier to differentiate between similar routes:


Once you select a route, the individual steps for the trip are dramatically simplified and cleaner in the new design. The stations at which you’ll need to transfer, and the number of stops in between are now much more apparent. The sections of the route that involve walking are also much easier to spot since they’re indicated by a dotted line on the left:


Clicking on any step will also display more information. For example, we now show the stop preceding the one where you’ll need to get off, so that you can get your bags ready and prepare to disembark. And we’ve introduced turn-by-turn direction indicators for walking, driving and cycling:


Stay tuned for further changes as we continue to refine and improve your experience using directions from Google Maps. Enjoy your travels!

Posted by Jonah Jones, User Experience Designer

A Big Thank You to our Growing Community of Bike Map Contributors

When we added U.S. biking directions to Google Maps back in March, we were eager to see the response from the cycling community. Through our partnership with the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, we had detailed bike lane and trail information for 150 cities; and for the rest of the country, we recommended routes based on other data such as the size of the road, speed of traffic and hill steepness. On one hand, it would’ve been ideal for our directions feature to know about all the bike lanes and trails in the country. But on the other hand, we were aware that biking directions were one of our most-requested features and we wanted to provide information for bicycling fans as soon as possible.

So rather than wait, we decided to launch biking directions in “beta” and ask our community of bicycle-bound users for their help improving our bike maps. Through our “Report a problem” tool, any user can send us corrections or recommend improvements, and receive notifications from Google when their report has been resolved. We always knew the cycling community would be a passionate bunch, but the response to both our biking directions feature and our call to join in the effort to improve our bike maps has surpassed our happiest expectations.

More than 10,000 people have submitted about 25,000 suggestions for improvements to our bike maps. With their help, we’ve added bike lane and trail data for an additional 80 cities since our initial launch. This is an exciting and humbling response from the Google Maps community. It’s like having 10,000 new members of our bike maps team, contributing their time and energy to make Google Maps more useful for everyone.

These contributors have impacted biking directions across the nation - in small and large ways. Here are some examples of suggestions we’ve received:

• One user simply pointed out to us, “Wall Township Bike path - http://www.wallrec.com/bicycling.htm.” Our response to that short and sweet message? Here it is:

• Some else sent a note saying, “CSUS - there has been a bike/foot traffic tunnel that connects elvas ave to College town dr for about 6 years. it is located between 64 & 65 st.” Well, that’s handy to know! Done:

• And yet another user shared, “Cycle/hiking path continues to the East across Switzer and connects with the path that is currently shown on google maps ~2.5 miles to the ENE at 130th and Metcalf Ave. Details on Overland Park website http://www.opkansas.org/Resource_/PageResource/Maps-And-Stats/Maps/Adobe-Acrobat-PDF-Maps/bike_route_plan.pdf Thanks.” Awesome! Overland Park is now looking pretty good for cyclists:

This is how we’ll build a great cycling map: Bit by bit, getting better with every tip and suggestion that users share about the lanes and trails they’ve ridden.

We want to say “Thank you!” to all those who’ve answered our call for bike map contributions. Clearly our users are passionate about helping to make our maps better, so we’re working hard to make the improvement process even easier and to speed up the processing time for user contributions.

In the meantime, happy biking! Just remember that our biking directions are still in beta, and to always use your judgement - don’t ride down any road that makes you uncomfortable. And if we’ve recommended a road that shouldn’t be used by the average bicyclist, let us know!

Posted by Dave Barth, Product Manager

Take the high road or the low road with Earth view in Google Maps

Draggable driving directions is one of our most popular features in Google Maps. By simply clicking on a route and dragging it, you can choose an alternate - perhaps more scenic or more familiar - route to your destination. This feature wasn’t available when Earth view launched in Google Maps earlier this year, but we’re happy to announce that draggable driving directions are now in Earth view as well. After getting directions, just grab the blue route line with your mouse and drag it onto alternate highways or streets. The route will update automatically, redrawing your path in 3D as you move your mouse.

As an example, one of my favorite trips to make is to Yosemite Valley from my home in San Francisco. For those of you familiar with this route, there’s a steep shortcut called Old Priest Grade that saves time but can be challenging for larger vehicles. Here is the recommended route taking the grade:


By grabbing the blue line with your mouse cursor and dragging it within the map, you can quickly and easily pick a different route. In this case, I prefer to go around Old Priest Grade and take the gentler Highway 120.


The next time you plan to drive, whether it’s a short day trip to park you’ve never visited or a weekend road trip with your buddies, make sure to check the route and switch it up if you’d like. You can change these same directions to Yosemite, or click-and-drag any driving route you create!

Posted by Peter Birch, Product Manager

Fun on the Autobahn: Google Maps Navigation in 11 more Countries

[Cross-posted from the Google Mobile Blog]

There’s nothing quite like driving through Europe in the summer. In the past week, I’ve seen the beautiful Val d’Aosta, the Swiss Alps, the Cathedral in Chartres, and travelled through the Channel Tunnel as I road-tripped from Milan to Geneva, Zürich to Stuttgart, and on through Paris to London. Why the burst of mileage? Well, I’ve been testing Google Maps Navigationversion 4.2. Yes, road-testing it around Europe was a grueling process, but somebody had to do it :)

Today we’re launching Google Maps Navigation version 4.2 in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland for Android devices 1.6 and higher. Google Maps Navigation is an Internet-connected GPS navigation or ‘satnav’ system that provides turn-by-turn voice guidance as a free feature of Google Maps.

On my test trip, I found a number of Navigation features useful:

• While driving through the Loire Valley, I put my French language skills to the test by finding my destination with Search by voice (now launched in French, German, Italian, and Spanish for Android 2.0 and higher);
• I previewed a typical British roundabout with Street View to see exactly where I’d need to exit before getting there in person;
• I satisfied my craving for moules frites by searching for it along my route;
• I kept the gas stations layer on to ensure I’d always know where the nearest petrol station was, just in case;
• And, of course, the turn-by-turn voice guidance kept me on-track to my destination -- despite my sometimes spotty connection in mountain tunnels -- thanks to the way Maps Navigation saves the route on your device when you start.

Google Maps Navigation (beta) with Search by voice is available in version 4.2 of Google Maps, on Android devices 1.6 and higher. To download Google Maps version 4.2, search for Google Maps in Android Market.

Try Google Maps Navigation in your local country and language today -- and have a great time touring around the Continent this summer if you get the chance!

Posted by Michael Siliski, Product Manager, Google Maps for mobile

What’s new with biking directions on Google Maps?

Since 1956, May has been recognized as National Bike Month and in most cities, Bike to Work Day falls during the week of May 17-21 (but for those of us in San Francisco, Bike to Work Day is coming up tomorrow on May 13). To help celebrate all these festivities and help make it easier for folks around the country to participate, we’ve been busy improving biking directions on Google Maps. Here’s what’s new:

Biking directions for mobile
Check out yesterday’s post for some great news: biking directions are now available on mobile! Back when we first launched in March, we promised we were working hard on it, and now the wait is over for Android users. Now you can plan out your route to work directly from your phone - and if end up having such a great time while you’re on your way, pull out your phone and search for some new rides!

In addition to getting customized routes, you can also turn on the Bicycling layer to see dedicated bike-only trails (dark green), roads with bike lanes (light green), or roads that are good for biking but lack a dedicated lane (dashed green).


Biking Layer in the Google Maps API
There are two important parts of Google Maps biking directions: the bike specific routing and the customized look and feel of the bicycling layer. Our routing algorithm tries to put riders on trails and roads with bike lanes or recommended streets as much as possible, while the bicycling layer visually highlights the information that's most relevant to cyclists. We've drawn attention to the bike trails, bike lanes, and bike-friendly roads with color-coded lines on the map. This custom layer is now available in the Maps API v3, so when you add biking directions to your website, users will get the same visually rich experience that they get on Google Maps. Globe Bikes is already taking advantage of this improvement by placing our simple biking directions gadget on their website. If you have the skills to copy and paste, you have the skills to add the gadget to your website.

Ongoing Data Quality improvements
In March we launched biking directions with more than 12,000 miles of trails and bike lane data for 150 cities across the country. We’re continually working to improve this coverage by adding new trails and route information submitted by our users via the “Report a Problem” tool. So far we’ve received thousands of suggestions and tips from dedicated cyclists around the country and have made a number of additions and improvements. You’ll now find 39 more cities with trail and bike lane data; for example, check out all the new data in Sacramento.

Hopefully this has managed to convince you to hop on your bike to get to work - and lots of other places - this month. Before you head out, you can check out the League of American Bicyclists' website for more information about special Bike Month festivities in your part of the country, as well as tips for a safe and fun ride.

Posted by Laura Melahn, Product Marketing Manager

The world just became smaller: driving directions in 111 new countries

Members of our Google Map Maker community have always told us that the biggest milestone after launching maps for their countries is adding driving directions. A few months ago we launched driving directions in 18 countries in Eastern Europe and Asia-Pacific. We have now enabled directions in 111 new countries and territories across the globe.

So, whether you find yourself in Lima, Peru or visiting Iceland or driving from Johannesburg to Nairobi, you can now use Google Maps to find out how to get around.

Driving directions on Google Maps are now available for:

Algeria, American Samoa, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Aruba, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Faroe Islands, Fiji, French Guiana, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Iceland, Iran, Jamaica, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands Antilles, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Qatar, Reunion, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna, Western Sahara, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Do give it a try and tell us what you think on Map Your World Community. If you find something that is missing or not otherwise quite right, you can always map it at www.google.com/mapmaker.

Posted by Vishwajith Krishnamurthy, Software Engineer; Zareer K'Maneck, Program Manager; and Manik Gupta, Product Manager