Google - making life that little bit easier

Posted 25 January 2011

In Industry

Today Google have done it again. In just an ever so small piece of code, they have provided a little tool to make your life and your journeys even easier. Not content with telling you the fastest directions to your destination, for the UK at least, they will now tell you an estimated cost of your journey. Since 2005 Google has offered the ability to provide directions by entering a start point and a destination. They have improved this further by adding a simple calculation for the estimated fuel cost, this only applies to the car journeys so far but it's not inconceivable to use a similar calculation for estimated calories for walking or estimated CO2 emissions for the public transport journeys.

The price used per litre is a little optimistic at present but does offer you the ability to change it. I hope the price will track the average price moving forward but time will tell. Google Maps has always been a useful tool but the continued investment is the reason it stays the preferred online map choice for so many.