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]