Earlier this month, Google announced the addition of biking directions to Google Maps. Today, Google is also enhancing its maps by adding more data about local public transit options. Whenever you search for a train station in Google Maps, you can now see a list of transit lines that service this station. Google Maps will also display the next scheduled departure times for every line.
We have to say, however, that while this feature worked great for the example given in Google’s blog post (“Zurich HB“) and most of the larger transit stations in big cities like New York, finding the right name for smallertrain stations can be rather frustrating.
One More Feature That Sets Google Apart from the Competition
While this is only a small addition to Google’s mapping product, the constant drumbeat of new features and partnerships that Google Maps announces on an almost-weekly basis makes it hard for competitors like Bing Maps to keep pace. Even though Bing Maps offers a very competitive set of mapping and directions features that still outperform Google Maps in many ways, Google is currently offering a more comprehensive set of features. Thanks to Google’s strong emphasis on getting local businesses to update their own data in Google Maps, the company is also able to offer better results for local searches.
Given Microsoft’s renewed focus on Bing – and the Web in general – it would be wrong to count Bing Maps out, but for the time being, it looks like it will be hard for Microsoft to catch up with Google.
