In recent times, there has been a surge in the request for directions by cyclers. Between February and now, there has been a 69% increase in requests for biking direction. Google’s data shows a record high last month. We all know that the routes for cars, bikes, and bicycles are not quite the same. Cyclists can make use of unconventional routes that makes their journey quicker. Due to the increase in requests for directions, Google Maps now have some updates on cycling routes in major cities.
The Google Maps updated cycling routes use information from AI complex algorithms and crowdsourced data. It provides the latest options for cyclists. The information contains various forms of bicycle lanes and bicycle lane-friendly streets.
Google Maps product manager, Vishal Dutta, wrote in his blog: “During COVID-19, whether people are driving for exercise or safe commuting to get to work, we are making it easier for cyclists everywhere to ride their own bicycles”.
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In order to keep up with the era of rapid change (for example, COVID-19 prompted certain cities to increase or widen bicycle lanes to encourage more riders), Google invited local government agencies to share changes through geographic data upload tools.
No two-wheelers? No problem. Google Maps is providing more detailed information about bike-sharing, such as step-by-step walking and cycling routes to and from the docking station and real-time availability. In some cities, it even provides links to related bike-share apps, so you can easily book and unlock vehicles.
Google Docs now has over a billion downloads on Play Store
In other reports, Google Docs now has over 1 billion downloads on the Play Store. It took six years for Google Docs to reach 1 billion downloads on Google. This is so because Google did not make this app compulsory in its GMS package. Two years ago (October 2018), Google Docs hit 500 million downloads on the Play Store. This shows that over the past two years, this app has become increasingly popular. The exponential increase in downloads could be due to the increase in “working from home”.
Another reason for its popularity could be the massive increase in the use of Google Workspace. This Workspace comes with Google Docs. Also, this feature (Docs) is a free-to-use service with cloud services. It has very reason to be popular with technological advancement.
