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[Molandfreak]

What is this? If I wanted to look up flight times and prices, I would have used Travelocity or some other shit.

[1]

It looks about normal. It's 65 mph.

[NE2]

They've had flights listed for years when you look up something like Orlando to Bumfuckville in the main Goog (in preparation for clicking the maps link).

[Molandfreak]

[Duke87]

The old Google Maps defaulted to driving directions and required you tab over to transit, walk, or bike if you wanted to see one of those. This made sense since most trips are made by car, although some might argue it was unfairly biased in favor of driving.

The new Google Maps attempts to be more intelligent by selecting the mode of transportation it believes is best for the trip rather than always defaulting to driving. Ask for directions around a city and it will show transit options and driving options side by side. It will even show transit first as your best choice if it's faster than driving.

Thus, with the addition of flying directions, it will now recommend flying if it's faster door to door than driving. I don't know how many people ask Google Maps for directions when they want to fly somewhere, so this is probably of limited real world utility... although habits could adjust over time, once people become accustomed to it. Either way, I'm sure the airlines have paid Google handsomely to advertise them like this.

[Molandfreak]

The old Google Maps defaulted to driving directions and required you tab over to transit, walk, or bike if you wanted to see one of those. This made sense since most trips are made by car, although some might argue it was unfairly biased in favor of driving.

The new Google Maps attempts to be more intelligent by selecting the mode of transportation it believes is best for the trip rather than always defaulting to driving. Ask for directions around a city and it will show transit options and driving options side by side. It will even show transit first as your best choice if it's faster than driving.

Thus, with the addition of flying directions, it will now recommend flying if it's faster door to door than driving. I don't know how many people ask Google Maps for directions when they want to fly somewhere, so this is probably of limited real world utility... although habits could adjust over time, once people become accustomed to it. Either way, I'm sure the airlines have paid Google handsomely to advertise them like this.

I want the old way back. I don't want to be bombarded with any of this silly stuff. I want my driving directions first and foremost, like google maps used to be about. Options on the side are wonderful if they're in a menu. Google did this with search results, too. There used to be a clear order of "web, images, video, news, maps, and more." For some reason they got rid of their order this year and replaced it with search terms based on the search itself.

[jeffandnicole]

Can they show bike directions and times as it's done in the real world?  Meaning, not stopping at red lights and stop signs, cutting thru parking lots, going the wrong way down the road....

[Sykotyk]

If someone is planning to drive from A to B, it's probably because it's cost-effective to drive (multiple people) or the person just doesn't WANT to fly. I'm sure if flying was an option, they'd have searched for it.

Throw in the fact that G-Maps is horrible with estimating times for driving. They also can't possibly factor in cost analysis in actual door-to-door travel. Ground transportation to/from a airport is not cheap, and parking isn't worthwhile, either. Plus the added cost involved with getting a rental, etc on arrival if you go that route.

If I put in A/B, I want A/B, you can give suggested alternate routes, but I'm looking for routes.

[realjd]

If someone is planning to drive from A to B, it's probably because it's cost-effective to drive (multiple people) or the person just doesn't WANT to fly. I'm sure if flying was an option, they'd have searched for it.

Or, people use Google Maps drive time to help determine whether they want to fly or not. Personally, I start looking at flights if it's a 7-8 hour drive. If the drive is around that long and the flights are cheap enough (sub $300-ish), I'll usually fly. Having both flight times/prices and maps in one place is useful for me.

Without using Google Maps to find drive distance/time, I don't know yet if it's cost/schedule effective to drive. I certainly haven't made my mind up yet before heading to the maps.

[formulanone]

They're probably just integrating their Matrix Airfare Search, from what it seems. So far, Google has quietly left that product out of "public view", so to speak...or at least, it doesn't seem to generate much buzz. I find it helpful, especially if I'd like to try another or nearby airport by an area I've never been to before, and sometimes I find travel deals my booking department doesn't see right away. Although, I've caught some cheaper fares by going directly to the airlines; knowing what times/dates/connections and comparing them side by side is both geektasticly neat and helpful to me.

The other odd thing is that it also tries to steer you to the nearest hub (it seems within 100 miles), so you can get a direct flight, and ostensibly, a less expensive one.

I don't like the addition into the Maps, because it assumes you'd like to randomly fly on odd days and times - this might be great for folks without time constraints, though. The idea of "well, you could drive 430 miles, but if you don't mind waiting until Thursday morning, there's a cheap flight with a four-hour layover that might work" probably doesn't do more than hook away your attention.