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Posts Tagged ‘Routenplaner’

Google Maps Now With Traffic Information in Real Time

The local search engine Google Maps has now added traffic information to its route planner. Those planning a trip using Google Maps to get from point A to point B will receive the estimated arrival time based on current traffic conditions. With the new feature, it is easy for users to decide whether they should go by car, public transportation, by bike or by foot to get to their destination as quickly as possible. Read the rest of this entry »

Besuchen Sie Argleton – wenn Sie’s finden!

Google Maps ist eine feine Sache: Zu fast jeder beliebigen Stadt findet man dort ein Maximum an online verfügbaren Infos. Selbst wenn die Stadt gar nicht existiert.

Argleton heißt das Phantom, das seit letzter Woche durchs Internet geistert. Eine Stadt im Nordwesten Englands, in der Grafschaft Lancashire. Die Irische See ist nicht weit, und man spielt gerne Golf in dieser Ecke. Bis zum Verwaltungssitz Preston sind es mit dem Auto laut Maps-Routenplaner 39 Minuten, vorbei an Ormskirk, Rufford und Kaffs wie Little Hoole oder Much Hoole. Der einzige Schönheitsfehler bei der Sache: Argleton, mit seinen alten Kirchen und gemütlichen Villen, gibt es gar nicht. An den Tag gebracht hat es der britische Guardian. Wie es zu dem Fehler kommen konnte, kann sich Google nicht erklären, verspricht aber schnellstmögliche Lös(ch)ung. Die ist noch nicht erfolgt.

Falk Maps: Routen planen ohne GPS

Ähnlich wie das Ö-Navi (wir berichteten) bietet nun auch die neue Version der Handy-Software Falk Maps einen Routenplaner.

Wie es in einer Pressemitteilung heißt, berechnet dieser europaweit Strecken und stellt diese in übersichtlicher Listenform dar – auf Wunsch auch ohne Autobahnen oder Fähren. Im Gegensatz zur Navigationsfunktion sei hierfür kein GPS-Empfänger erforderlich.

Neu sei überdies die Funkzellenortung, mit welcher der ungefähre Standort des Nutzers auch ohne GPS-Empfang bestimmt werden könne. Dies geschehe anhand der Mobilfunkzelle, in der sich das Handy gerade befinde. Praktisch sei dies vor allem dann, wenn gerade kein GPS-Signal vorliege – wie etwa in Tiefgaragen oder Gebäuden   oder wenn kein GPS-Empfänger zur Verfügung stehe. Derzeit könne man die Funkzellenortung jedoch nur für die Funktionen “lokale Suche”, “DasÖrtliche” und “Clever Tanken” nutzen.

Die neue Version kann man sich unter www.falkmaps.com kostenlos herunterladen. Derzeit werden laut Betreiberangaben 65 Handymodelle unterstützt.

Ö-Navi2.1 – Routenplanung ohne GPS

Kürzlich ist die kostenlose Handynavigation Ö-Navi von DasÖrtliche in einer neuen Version erschienen. Sie bietet neben den bewährten Funktionen des Vorgängers (wir berichteten) auch ein paar neue Features.

So können mit Ö-Navi2.1 nun auch Besitzer von Mobiltelefonen ohne GPS-Empfänger Strecken unterwegs planen. Das ersetzt quasi die klassische Routenplanung am PC vor der Fahrt sowie das Hantieren mit Ausdrucken während der Reise. Wie der Betreiber mitteilt, wird nach der Eingabe von Start und Ziel die vorgeschlagene Strecke auf dem Handydisplay dargestellt. So sehe der Nutzer, an welchen Punkten er die Richtung ändern müsse. Ö-Navi zeige dabei auch die Fahrtzeit und die Entfernung für die gesamte Strecke sowie für einzelne Abschnitte an. Überdies ist laut der Pressemitteilung mit der neuen Version auch das Kartenmaterial für viele europäische Länder aktualisiert worden. Damit habe der Nutzer automatisch Zugriff auf die neuesten Daten, ohne auf teure Updates zurückgreifen zu müssen.

Routenplanung: Google Maps zeigt nun Alternativstrecken

Meistens führen nicht nur einer, sondern viele Wege zum gewünschten Ziel. Das wird von Google Maps nun berücksichtigt.

Wie es im Google Lat Long Blog heißt, werden in solchen Fällen nun neben der besten Strecke zusätzlich noch eine oder zwei in etwa gleich gute Routen angezeigt. Diese sind unter dem Link „vorgeschlagene Routen“, der sich über der Wegbeschreibung befindet, verfügbar. Praktisch: Fährt man mit der Maus über einen Alternativvorschlag, wird dieser zusätzlich zur ausgesuchten Route in die Karte eingeblendet.

GoYellow fine tunes its map search

The online directory GoYellow has expanded its map search. Thereby especially the route planner has been improved.

This was revealed by GoYellow Media AG in a press release. When planning a route, the user can display POIs (points of interest) along the way, ranging from filling stations and parking garages, cafes, restaurants, hotels or food shops, through to doctors or pharmacies. To activate this display, click on “Kartensuche” [en=map search] and choose “Interessante Punkte” [en=interesting points]. However the map view becomes confusing really quickly if the user selects too many POIs. The sub-category “Sehenswürdigkeiten” [en=attractions] still appears not to work, or perhaps very few of these have been programmed as yet.

The next months with see GoYellow expanding their services in the map search field.

Testing online map services

The people from Landkartenblog [en='mapblog'] have put several internet-based map services, aerial-photo providers as well as route planning services under the magnifying glass, with some sobering conclusions.

Most of the examined route planners came off pretty badly. They are often inaccurate, hard to navigate and read, and are confusing to use, according to the study’s authors. Google Maps still delivered the best results of the services tested, however were only found to be ‘Satisfactory’.

In testing the online map services, the surprising result was that the wiki-worldmap site OpenStreetMaps proved to be the most convincing. In the opinion of the study’s organizers, the site offers the most up-to-date maps of Germany, although some streets are still missing in smaller towns and villages.

Aerial photographs were also inspected. The study concluded that there are several good providers such as Microsoft Live Search Maps, Map24 or Google Maps; however all providers display many out-of-date images, especially of non-urban regions.

All three tests are detailed on the Landkartenblog, where one can view the study’s parameters and the criteria that were used for the ratings and assessment delivered.

Yahoo! Maps is now multilingual

The USA version of Yahoo! Maps, the local search, map and route portal operated by Yahoo! is now speaking in German, among other languages!

In December 2008, Yahoo! expanded the international coverage of its USA-version (see our post), and as they announced then, 2009 would follow with further innovations.

The changes have started to be implemented: since an update in February, users are able to display the Yahoo! Maps website in several different languages. This was announced by Yahoo! staffer Gus Maldonado in the Yahoo! Geo Technologies Blog. Languages can be selected using the “Language” menu item [surprise!] on the right side of the map view, offering French, Italian, Spanish and German, alongside the original English. Further one is now able to display route distances in either miles or kilometers.

However, this service is not yet really implemented, for example, for Germany. The route planner for Germany recognizes a tiny selection of locations, and local search doesn’t function at all for Germany. For German-speaking Yahoo! users, it is better to use Yahoo!’s local search German-version de.local.yahoo.com and the German-version route planner de.routeplanner.yahoo.com.

Google Maps: New York by bus and subway

In October last year, Google Transit was integrated in the route planner of Google Maps (see our report). Since then one has been able to plan one’s routing using public transit in ever increasing numbers of cities and countries. Recently New York made its debut.

Chris Harrelson, a Google employee, in the official company blog, announced this. He outlined this event as a gigantic development. The new addition allows the 20 million people who live in and around New York City, as well as the millions of annual visitors to obtain information on buses and subways via mouse-click.

In total, Google Transit is now represented in over 170 cities and countries globally, with over 70 in North America and 81 in China. Other locations served include several in Europe and Australia, as well as the whole of Japan, Switzerland and Austria.

Even though to date no German city is covered, users may access the existing cities/countries via Google Maps – in the route planner, one can choose between car, pedestrian and Public Transit options.

Google Maps now with pedestrian navigation

Google Maps now appears not only in a new, simplified layout. Approximately a week ago, the search engine giant integrated a new service.  Until now, route planning on Google concentrated exclusively on the needs of motorists; now this has expanded and pedestrians are also now able to find their way…

On the newly revised layout and now predominantly blue start page of Google Maps, the user is now able to access the pedestrian feature by a click on “Calculate Route”. Using a dropdown menu, users can choose whether to generate directions per car or foot.

As laid out by Google programmer Andy Schwerin in the Google Lat Long Blog, for a pedestrian route plan (contrary to those for motorists) one-way streets or “no left turns” are of course ignored, and parks and pedestrian zones are now included in the results.

At present, not everything functions correctly. In our own test, conducted by Lokalesucheblog.de searching for a route in Stuttgart, Google for example ignored paths through major city parks, such as the Schlossgarten, and completely missed smaller green areas. Suggested were also routings where no paths exist.  This problem has been recognized by the Googlers… Schwerin explains that for this and other reasons, the program is still in beta-testing.  the Googlers are working on the issues, actively gathering new data on footways.  Google also encourages user feedback, so that this feature can be improved upon.

Interestingly in the post, Schwerin mentions that the link “Footpath” [de=Fußweg] only appears when the foot-route result is no longer than ten kilometers.  This was not the case on the old site, but has apparently now been changed.  However, one can actually view the foot-route from Stuttgart to Hamburg, which takes five days and 17 hours, assuming the walker does not take any breaks.  According to the site (at present) a walker could wander from Munich to London in eight days and ten hours.

Google Maps is not the only local search service offering pedestrian navigation.  Services such as the local search engine suchen.de has long offered a pedestrian option, limiting the distance of the route to twenty kilometers.  Suchen.de, contrary to Google, does indeed cover parks, and doesn’t deliver routings without sidewalks.  Live Search Maps, Microsoft’s local search service also offers foot ways up to 30 kilometers.

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