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Google Maps Adds Distance Measuring

Google Maps added a nice feature to My Maps, letting you draw lines on the maps (which you already could do) and see how long those lines are. That opens up lots of possibilities, like bike routes, hiking trails, or drawing a line from Shea Stadium to your house and seeing if the route you take to a Mets game is shorted than just taking the streets or walking along the highway.

The answer, after drawing all three routes on the map? The complicated, winding route I take through Flushing Meadow Park is 3.09 miles long. Walking along the highway, a much more direct route, is 3.29 miles long. Walking with the streets is 3.2 miles long. Looks like when I decided on that route, at 15 years old, I was right about it being shorter and faster, plus its more scenic and safer than the highway or the neighborhood I’d have to walk through.

So, try out this new feature, and see if you’ve been taking the fastest route somewhere. Maybe there’s something you hadn’t considered that could save you some time getting to work, or the game, or a more scenic route that doesn’t take that much longer. With this new feature, it’s easy.

Also: Since this is a MyMaps feature, you can share it with others, showing them the fastest route somewhere, multiple routes, the distance around a neighborhood, the length of a building, anything. Have fun with it!

As Zoli points out, this is another case where Google Maps has put a bunch of mashups out of business by bringing their feature into Google Maps.

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September 7th, 2007 Posted by Nathan Weinberg | Google Maps, Services | 2 comments