[NEWS] Google Maps updated with public transit and walking directions

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Google Maps updated with public transit and walking directions

By Derek Kessler | Thursday, Oct 1, 2009 | 0 comments »
Theres one thing to check off our wish list for upgrades to the Google Maps app on the Palm Pre: Mass transit and walking directions. Actually, thats two things, so much the better! In addition to now being generally faster and getting a GPS lock much more quickly than I can ever remember, the updated Google Maps app now allows you to pick what kind of route youd like: driving, mass transit, or walking. The mass transit routing even lets you pick a departure time so it can pick the bus/train/subway/monorail/ferry/hovercraft trips that will get you to your destination in the shortest time possible. All but a few major American cities are participating in the public transit partner program with Google Maps.
As it would turn out, new routing options arent the only nice thing we can access. Google Maps now stores your queries for the period youre running the app, so if you need to check directions between multiple locations and then back again, you can easily do so. Unfortunately, this history log is not saved once you close the app, so you cant use the history as a quasi bookmarking workaround.
Another thing: were not sure if this was a webOS 1.2 update or not. Several users have reported that these options were not available until today, which lends further credence to the theory that most of the Google Maps app is stored server-side and downloaded every time you launch it.
Thanks to mobilehavoc in our forums for the tip!


original information found here:

http://www.precentral.net/google-maps-updated-public-transit-and-walking-directions