Google Maps, Google Now both get updates

Two Google applications received updates in the Google Play Store on Wednesday. Google Maps has an update that brings mobile bicycle navigation and directions for the ten countries where bicycling directions were added last month (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK). You will be able to find paths and street lanes that will help you pedal your way from location to location in the same countries.  Google Maps Navigation (still in beta) can now give bike riders turn by turn directions and you can even mount your handset on the handlebars to help you safely find your way while pedaling..

Biking directions were added to Google Maps in 2010 for the U.S. and Canada and today there are more than 330,000 miles of biking directions on the application. Dark green lines represent dedicated bike trails or those routes with no motor vehicles getting in your way while light green lines show streets with bike trails. Dashed green lines show other directions for bike riders. When biking directions and Map Maker are both available, users can suggest newly discovered routes.

Meanwhile, Google Now, available on Android 4.1, can now handle a number of new requests such as real-time sports scores, movie showtimes and public alerts. With the showtmes, you can request notifications when you are close to a theater or on your usual movie day. You can also pick your favorite teams and get timely updates of games in progress. You can also receive storm warnings, earthquake alerts or other important weather updates. It's these push notifications that set Google Now apart from other similar applications.

We can tell you that during the recent trek of Tropical Storm Issac through South Florida, some Android models (even those on Android 2.3.4) pushed special alerts about tornado and Tropical Storm warnings at the exact same second that the National Weather Service was releasing them on The Weather Channel's cable channel.

source: Google, GooglePlayStore