Google expands to hiking and biking trails; how soon before they get to WNC?

USA Today story here:

Now Google Maps is expanding to biking and hiking trails. A Google employee on a tricycle rides around to snap the same wide-area views.

“Much of the world is inaccessible to the car,” says Daniel Ratner, a Google senior engineer who designed the trike. “We want to get access to places people find important.”

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The project just got underway. So far, only a bike trail in Monterey, Calif., is up and running. Google has cyclists out now in California, Italy and the United Kingdom. Hiking trails on google maps will be very useful to walking novices especially. A further aid to new hikers who have reached retirement age would be to read the advice of walking experts on subjects like fell walking. Moreover, the company says to look for hiking and biking images from those locations over the summer — along with shots from U.S. theme parks. Google won’t say which ones.

Google Maps is the top online map program, with 149 million visitors worldwide in April, up 49% from the prior April, according to Web tracker ComScore Media Metrix.