Google Maps continues with its upgrade by including various aspects of the service. It has recently included transit stops totalling 1 million across the globe.
The upgrade includes the schedules of buses, trains, super trains and subway information on departure and arrivals.
This was part of a Google Lab experiment that Google engineers started in 2005. They dedicated their time to see if they could map out transit stops in their own cities.
With Google Maps, users can receive information on transit stops and schedules from nearly 500 cities across the world including Cairo in Egypt, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria in South Africa, Sousse to Mahdia and Tunis in Tunisia.
The company has also included an upgrade to their Google Maps for Android to include the transit stops. It will be useful as a mobile solution on the go.
“We’ve made some changes to the Transit Lines layer, so that you can select a specific mode of public transportation (train, bus, tram or subway) to display on the mobile map, hiding the other modes. This is helpful in areas where there is a tight concentration of several types of public transit,” the company said.
Google also updated the layout of station pages on its Android app and made it more useful. Users can open up the station by tapping on the name right from their mobile screen.
“Whether you’re looking for schedule and fare information, directions by public transit or nearby stations, Google Maps puts comprehensive, accurate and useful transit information at your fingertips,” Christopher Van Der Westhuizen, Software Engineer, Google Maps said.
With transport systems in most of Africa being haphazard and lacking schedules, it will take a while before the new transit info is included in the maps.
Last month, Google maps updated its walking directions in major African cities, making the service more relevant for African jaunts.
