A press release announced the punctual expansion by Google Maps, of its feature “Google Transit” to include Austria, timed for the start of the European Soccer Tournament 2008. For the co-host country Switzerland, this service has already been available for some time.

Using Google Transit, visitors can plan their journeys with public transportation. This feature has been available in the USA since December 2005, though at its launch it was only accessible under the so-called ‘Google Labs’ section. In October 2007, this service was integrated with Google Maps (see our post) and successively expanded since then.

In the mean time, the user is able to access information on trains and busses in more than 40 US cities as well as some locations in Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Poland and Britain. Further, all Japan, Switzerland and most recently, Austria are now fully covered. And well-timed for the Football, one is able to access cross-border connections, from Austria to Switzerland and back, with all public transportation reflected. This service lightens the travel planning of fans, and suggests the best connections, for example from hotel to stadium, to public viewing locations or the next game location of the fans’ own national team.

The service is to be found on the Google Transit page, or in the respective country versions of Google Maps, including those of Germany, Austria, or Switzerland. Users enter their data under route calculations (entering start and finish), or using a right click, they can click on the start or finish locations on the maps view, which then displays the requested routing. If there is data available about connections using trains, buses, trams and so on, a link will appear labeled “Public Transportation” [de=Oeffentliche Verkehrsmittel.) On clicking this link, the next available connections for the route desired will be generated and displayed. If one needs a later time or date, just click on ‘Options’, enter the new details, and away you go…