Google Maps introduces major new feature - Transit Navigation

Google has recently updated the Google Maps Android app, adding a major new feature called Transit Navigation.

Transit Navigation uses GPS to determine your current location along your route and notifies you when it's time to get off or make a transfer. This is extremely helpful if you're in a place where you don't speak the local language and can't read the route maps or understand the announcements. After starting your trip with Transit Navigation, you can open another application or put your phone away entirely and Google Maps will still display an alert in your notification bar and vibrate your phone when your stop is due (Providing you have the GOS option turned on).

Google's Android Maps app has become massive competition to standalone GPS products and due to the public transport information, makes it the ideal city companion. This new feature lets you search for public transport routes in over 400 cities in the world.

Included in the 5.7 version of the app is support for offline maps - this beta feature will cache a few Kilometres worth of map data around your location and enable the application to keep working even if you lose the 3G signal, making the app much more usable as a real Satellite Navigation solution. One problem is that it is not automatic as of yet - you will need to manually ask the app to download the cache data.

Hopefully future versions will eventually make this a much more smoother process.

They have also now improved the direction services as they wanted them to be incredibly easy to pull up on your screen. If you select the driving or walking icon and your route is supported by Google Maps Navigation, the Navigation icon will automatically appear so you can get access to step-by-step directions in one click.

(Note: this change is currently only in place for driving and walking and does not appear for public transit).

So now you can spend more time enjoying the sights out the window and less time worrying about how many stops are left, where you are along the route or whether you missed your stop. Since Transit Navigation relies on GPS signals, they recommend using this feature for above-ground transit only.

Google Maps for Android is a free download for Android 2.1 and some other devices.

For more information on Google's new Transit Navigation visit www.couriersloughton.com or go to Transit Navigation.

Author: Kevin Bonner.

Proprietor of www.couriersloughton.com, a courier company in east london who use Google Maps and Transit Naviation as a GPS system for aiding drivers to exact location positions.