Google and TriMet launch "Transit"
Posted by Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor) on December 8th, 2005 at 11:46 am
News4Neighbors reports that the Google and TriMet collaboration that I reported on back in October has officially launched. "Google Transit" is in beta and you can read more about it straight from the horses mouth on the Google Blog.
No sign of bike-specific route planning...but then again, we've got a local grassroots effort well underway. And loyal readers know Google has worked with Metro on a bike-mapping project in tandem with Google Earth.
Why launch this tool with Portland's very own TriMet? Here's what Google says:
"We chose to launch with the Portland metro area for a couple of reasons. Tri-Met, Portland's transit authority, is a technological leader in public transportation. The team at Tri-Met is a group of tremendously passionate people dedicated to serving their community. And Tri-Met has a wealth of data readily available that they were eager to share with us for this project. This combination of great people and great data made Tri-Met the ideal partner."
I can just imagine all the transportation junkies downtown jumping up and down at what great PR this is for the city. Congrats Portland!
[via Portland Transport]
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Every search I've tried has just given me driving directions. I wonder if I'm doing something wrong?
RecommendedJust make sure you're at http://www.google.com/transit
RecommendedSorry...hit return too fast. If you are at the transit section, I've noticed that you might get driving directions when mass transit is too far away for walking and google perceives it's faster to drive. I recall someone here at work entered a case where they got driving directions only.
There...that's better.
Recommended-Joel
I wonder how Metro is doing with Google...
RecommendedJust FYI, I posted something about that back in mid-August.
Bike There map and Google Earth
RecommendedThanks, Joel; It seems that was the problem, but now I get the following incredibly annoying message:
"Unfortunately, Google Transit doesn't currently support the Safari web browser—but we're working on it! In the meantime, we recommend Firefox for viewing Google Transit on the Mac".
Jerks.
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