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Google (NSDQ: GOOG) today announced that their web browser-based Maps will be including bicycling directions, on top of existing cable car, populace passage and walk directions. Dedicated bicycle paths are in dark green, while bicycle-friendly routes are marked in light green, and passable ones are dotted special K lines. While bicycle directions ar restricted to those visiting maps.google.com for now, the press release says rather distinctly that “a mobile version is planned”. How long that volition take, exactly, is anybody’s dead reckoning. Considering all of the data is being implemented as a separate layer, a mechanism already supported by BlackBerry, S60, and Windows Mobile River, one would assume it wouldn’t be hard to do.
Google has already done a lot for navigation and directions on mobile, most recently with Navigation on Android, which managed to ace-handedly destroy the traditional PND market. The bicycle directions lineament is more in melodic line with Google’s numerous special K initiatives, and given their recently-relaunched philanthropy web site, I think we can expect more eco-centric mobile apps in the future tense.
[via Official Google Blog]
