On foot, by bicycle, by car, by taxi, by train or by plane: for years now, Google Maps has offered several options to move from one point to another in the world. For some time now, there has also been a more eco-sustainable option: it may take about ten minutes more to go where you need to go, but it consumes less fuel and pollutes less.
This possibility, hitherto limited to the United States and Canada, is now available for users in 40 European countries, including Italy. The operation is identical to the others: the Maps app opens, you choose where you want to go and now, in addition to showing the fastest route, the most efficient route from the point of view of fuel consumption will also be indicated (if it were not even the fastest); with a couple of touches you can see the relative fuel economy and the time difference between the two paths and choose the most suitable one.
Of course, if you prefer, you can always choose the fastest routeregardless of its ecological efficiency: to do so, simply select it from Settingsas usual.
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Different routes with different engines
As mentioned, the idea of the eco-sustainable itinerary started from the USA and Canada: according to Google, it would have “already contributed to saving more than half a million tons of CO2 emissionsequivalent to taking 100,000 cars off the road “.
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The Mountain View software is able to choose these routes based on parameters such as (for example) the absence of hills or the presence of traffic, processing all the information with algorithms from machine learning. Soon it will also be able to do so based on the type of engine of the vehicle used: diesel cars are usually more efficient at higher speeds than petrol ones, while hybrid and electric ones perform better in intermittent traffic, even with continuous stops. and-go. And therefore “in the coming weeks we will make available an option that allows drivers using eco-friendly routes in Europe, the USA and Canada to select the type of engine“and therefore to” find the best route and the most accurate estimates on fuel or energy efficiency “.
Google Maps seen from Italy
On the occasion of the debut of this new feature, Big G also announced some interesting and curious information on the use of its maps in our country, remembering for example that:
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people have increased use of public transport (55%) of walking routes (33%) and cycling routes (25%) compared to July 2021;
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there was an increase of almost 130% of searches for charging stations for electric vehicles from July 2021 to July 2022;
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the search for hiking areas in Italy it has grown by over 200% since last July; searches for parks and vintage shops also grew, by over 130% and over 160% respectively;
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though Milano has roughly half the population of Romathe number of users of Google Maps bike sharing is more or less the same in the two cities.