Google Maps is Awesome.

[Tarnsman]

I was curious to see what would happen if you asked Google maps for directions that involved you crossing an ocean. So I asked it for directions from Tokyo to LA. Google's suggestion? Kayak.

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/808/googleyousillybastard.jpg/][/URL]

[Legendary]

Hardly. A more useful set of directions, with slightly less demanding kayaking requirements, would have directed people to follow the Aleutian chain.

[symbv]

Does Google contain options for ships as a means of transportation? All I know is by car, by train/plane, or by walk. It seems using kayak is an extension of route by walk.

[Tarnsman]

Does Google contain options for ships as a means of transportation? All I know is by car, by train/plane, or by walk. It seems using kayak is an extension of route by walk.

No, it gave zero alternate routes.

This is what it means by kayak.

[Ornette]

This has been around since at least 2008. It's something Google did to be funny. There was a while when it told you to swim or jet ski.

[symbv]

It would be great if Google allows the option of crossing ocean by ships -- but I guess this means of transport is used by so few people that the effort may not be worth it.

[Tarnsman]

There was a while when it told you to swim or jet ski.

That's great. Symbv is right though, it really should give you actual routes and estimated flight times/boat times.

[Ornette]

That's great. Symbv is right though, it really should give you actual routes and estimated flight times/boat times.

That would mean Google is providing a service for those airlines/cruise lines, who don't pay Google, nor provide a means to book tickets. The routes and flight times are different for different times of day and carrier and if Google were to provide you with a certain route, and provided you a means to go to that carrier and book tickets, it would be free advertising for that carrier. While Google can provide multiple carriers there's still an issue of which one are they going to provide as the default, since that one is usually "good enough" for most people and the one people will settle with. This is a game I'm glad Google isn't playing.

[Tarnsman]

That would mean Google is providing a service for those airlines/cruise lines, who don't pay Google, nor provide a means to book tickets. The routes and flight times are different for different times of day and carrier and if Google were to provide you with a certain route, and provided you a means to go to that carrier and book tickets, it would be free advertising for that carrier. While Google can provide multiple carriers there's still an issue of which one are they going to provide as the default, since that one is usually "good enough" for most people and the one people will settle with. This is a game I'm glad Google isn't playing.

Google could still give an estimated flight time based on mean data. They don't have to give a default. Something like, "here are the airlines that fly it, with links and this is the average time."

[TehDonutKing]

This has been around since at least 2008. It's something Google did to be funny. There was a while when it told you to swim or jet ski.

You can still find the jetski option. Swimming was removed for some reason.

[symbv]

That would mean Google is providing a service for those airlines/cruise lines, who don't pay Google, nor provide a means to book tickets.

I don't know about Google in US, but Google Japan provides pretty competent service on taking train from one location in Japan to another (here is when I put Shinjuku and Shibuya into Google Maps JP) - although I use other services like Yahoo because they do it even better. I wonder if train companies pay Google to do that.

The routes and flight times are different for different times of day and carrier and if Google were to provide you with a certain route, and provided you a means to go to that carrier and book tickets, it would be free advertising for that carrier. While Google can provide multiple carriers there's still an issue of which one are they going to provide as the default, since that one is usually "good enough" for most people and the one people will settle with.

That much is valid enough.

[Ornette]

Google could still give an estimated flight time based on mean data. They don't have to give a default. Something like, "here are the airlines that fly it, with links and this is the average time."

How useful would that really be though? Maybe the actual time in the air can be pulled from some data somewhere, but there's all the time you spend in the airport waiting in lines and going through security, or flight delays. Different airports, different amount of times (like a terrible O'hare airport that sometimes requires you to leave the baggage claim from one terminal, take a bus, then wait in line to go through security AGAIN). The estimated time isn't going to give you much indication of the actual time a trip will take.

Also, different carrier flights sometimes use different planes. Even a short commuter can be seen on a 737 or an Embraer 190. Different speeds for these planes means flights, even short commuter ones, can vary as much as an hour or more.

I don't know about Google in US, but Google Japan provides pretty competent service on taking train from one location in Japan to another (here is when I put Shinjuku and Shibuya into Google Maps JP) - although I use other services like Yahoo because they do it even better. I wonder if train companies pay Google to do that.

They do that in the States, too, at least with metros, ferries, buses, etc. Because there's no competition here. It's all the same metro, and the ferry is the ferry (there's no other choice), and it's all the same bus. It's when it comes to airfare, of which the price is competitive, and more often than not multiple carriers can get you to where you want to go within a certain span of time, that I think it becomes a problem.

Google tells me which buses to take when I'm in Pittsburgh and use the "walking" option. Likewise, it tells me what subway trains to take when I'm in NYC. There's better options when it comes to the NYC metro, though. Personally, I use hopstop if I need to go somewhere that involves a line I've never been on.

EDIT: Note: I realize there's a JR line in Japan which is privately owned and run. But it's always been my understanding that there really isn't any competition between the regular metro and the JR lines.

[symbv]

They do that in the States, too, at least with metros, ferries, buses, etc. Because there's no competition here. It's all the same metro, and the ferry is the ferry (there's no other choice), and it's all the same bus.

The services provided in Japan could vary quite a bit even with the same metro and the same trains, because
1) the algorithm to find the fastest way could vary -- there may be more than one way to go from one place to another with the myriad rail links running in Tokyo. So some service may provide a better suggestion.
2) Japan is the only country where metro and trains run on a PREDETERMINED TIME TABLE with very small error, so sites provide the exact time when you will take a train and when you will arrive at another place and then when you will take the next train (with the time of walking included). Different sites may use this information to different extent.
3) Some sites even take into account the crowdedness during rush hour to adjust the time you will spend changing trains.
4) Some sites even give you the map guiding you to walk around the station and some give you different routes if it is raining (so that you can take a route with overhead cover)
5) Some sites remember the exits of the station and where it leads to outside the station so that it can tell you which train car (near the head or the tail) you should take.
6) Some sites take into account of accident announcements and adjust the route suggestion accordingly.

EDIT: Note: I realize there's a JR line in Japan which is privately owned and run. But it's always been my understanding that there really isn't any competition between the regular metro and the JR lines.

Which line I wonder?

[Ornette]

What I meant by "it's all the same" is that there isn't a competitive business between say an R Train and the 63C Bus. It's both run by the city and paid for by taxes and supplimented by fares. I'm not talking about the actual algorithm, I don't really know much about them in any significant detail.

As for the JR line, I'm not talking about any specific line. But that it's my understanding that they do not compete (for money) with the city run subway lines.

[symbv]

What I meant by "it's all the same" is that there isn't a competitive business between say an R Train and the 63C Bus. It's both run by the city and paid for by taxes. I'm not talking about the actual algorithm, I don't really know much about them in any significant detail.

I see. Still the services provided by the route search services in Japan are amazing. I really doubt it could be imitated in other countries (and whether consumers in other countries would care enough).

As for the JR line, I'm not talking about any specific line. But that it's my understanding that they do not compete (for money) with the city run subway lines.

If by competition you mean running along similar routes, there are indeed areas where JR and metro run along similar routes. The path between Shibuya and Shinjuku are now served both by a JR line and a metro line for example.

[KnightmareX13]

That would mean Google is providing a service for those airlines/cruise lines, who don't pay Google, nor provide a means to book tickets. The routes and flight times are different for different times of day and carrier and if Google were to provide you with a certain route, and provided you a means to go to that carrier and book tickets, it would be free advertising for that carrier. While Google can provide multiple carriers there's still an issue of which one are they going to provide as the default, since that one is usually "good enough" for most people and the one people will settle with. This is a game I'm glad Google isn't playing.

Google is also taking a go green approach, like installing solar panels on their building's roof, so this could just be a humorous approach to get people to go green.

[Trajan]

I love Google Maps too, it's so much easier to [s:2y7gz7g6]stalk[/s:2y7gz7g6] reunite with old friends now.

[Obstermaxmaster]

Google Maps is my hero. I couldn't find my friends house with mapquest, but google saved me!