Australia is set to get the very first public transport mapping layer for Google Maps outside of the northern hemisphere. There’s only one small catch though – it’s for Perth.
Google held a press conference in Sydney today which gave a sneak preview of the Google Transit experience which Westralians will have access to.
Perth residents will be able to plan their trips by public transport using the Google Maps interface, which will also have points of interest built in, such as cafes. The live demo today looked similar to the normal Google Maps interface.
Google’s head of engineering, Alan Noble, said that while the company is keen to roll out Google Transit across Australia, it will need the various state transit authorities to get involved and provide data. He said the company has held “preliminary discussions” with the NSW and Victorian authorities, but couldn’t put a timeframe on when we might get our Google Transit maps. Sigh.
We weren’t given a launch date but they said the service would go live “shortly”. Congratulations, Perth. I guess you guys deserve to get something first, for a change. ;)
Under the cut I’ve put a couple of screenshots showing the Google Transit sidebar and map interface.
Greyham
March 18, 2008 at 6:00 PM
“Congratulations, Perth. I guess you guys deserve to get something first, for a change. ;)”
Yup its about time we get something a little earlier :P Im sure you easterners will get it soon enough though :)
Report PermalinkHelen
March 18, 2008 at 6:11 PM
Woo, this is one of those rare occasions I’m moved to say ‘go Perth!’
Report PermalinkChris
March 18, 2008 at 7:13 PM
Perth getting it first? I’m happy and confused :p
Report Permalinkan9ie
March 18, 2008 at 9:21 PM
Oh FINALLY we catch a break her in Perth. I have been very bitter since Tenacious D gave us a pass on their last tour.
Report Permalinkmelaleuca
March 18, 2008 at 9:45 PM
‘…rest of Australia to suffer’ Suffer?! Oh, you poor people! :)
Here in Warrnambool, Victoria’s 5th largest town, we can’t even get high resolution maps – that’s suffering! ;) (I sound like one of the four Yorkshiremen – ‘Try telling that to the young people of today…’)
Report PermalinkAdam
March 18, 2008 at 10:15 PM
Why is it a shock that Australia’s best and fastest developing city is getting this first? Damn right – about time Perth gets something first :p We aactually had something like this developed by Transperth a few years back, i havn’t seen it recently, but it was really cool basic maps but u could pick exactly which bus stop/station/ferry point u wanted to start/transfer/end at, hopefully this will be the case with the google transit! who needs gps navigation!
Report PermalinkSarah Stokely
March 18, 2008 at 10:22 PM
LOL! :)
Report PermalinkDale
March 18, 2008 at 11:57 PM
I would say yay but I never use public transport …
Report PermalinkNick C
March 23, 2008 at 1:45 AM
Well…I worked on the original Transperth journey plan/mapping thing years ago and it is pretty cool (still at transperth.wa.gov.au if you care look).
The reason it happened was because the transperth guys were actually quite pro-active and advanced, look how they got the smartcard working compared to Sydney’s 10-year debacle.
I’m guessing but possibly the reason Perth is the first in Australia to go with Google transit is that they already have the data in the right format to create a layer for Google maps. Just guessing tho, great to see!
Report Permalink