Have you ever approached a London bike share station only to find it completely empty? Google Maps is updating to make that irksome scenario a thing of the past.
Originally a feature just in New York, Google has announced that it’s real-time bikeshare information is rolling out to 24 cities around the world, including London and Dublin.
Maps will highlight bike-sharing stations, with real-time data on how many bikes are available at each one. Moreover, if you’re on a borrowed bike and are looking for somewhere to drop it off, Google will highlight where there are free slots available. All this data comes thanks to a partnership with transit data company Ito World.
“Whether you’re traveling in a new city or planning your daily commute, Google Maps is making it easier to weigh all your transportation options with real-time information,” Andrew Hyatt, a software engineer at Google Maps, wrote in a blog post announcing the update. “Just like how we show you when buses and trains are coming and going in Google Maps, you’ll now know which bikeshare stations have a bike ready for you.”
Twenty-four cities in 16 countries are getting the feature to begin with. Along with New York, London and Dublin, they are: Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Budapest, Chicago, Hamburg, Helsinki, Kaohsiung, Los Angeles, Lyon, Madrid, Mexico City, Montreal, New Taipei City, Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco Bay Area, São Paulo, Toronto, Vienna, Warsaw and Zurich.
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Hopefully this is just the beginning, because, as Google notes in the blog, there are more than 1600 bike-sharing programs worldwide. And anything that makes it easier to dump the car and go for a pollution-free alternative is good news in our book.
Are you a cyclist that relies on bike-sharing schemes around the world? Will you be using Google Maps to stay on top of things? Let us know what you think on Twitter: @TrustedReviews.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.