Google has added another feature to Google Maps that allows bikers to avoid steep hills while planning their route. The elevation profiles have been added in all 14 countries where Google offers biking directions, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, and the US.
To access the feature, users simply need to search for a route and choose biking directions and the elevation profile will appear on the screen. The card based feature also shows the distance you’ll have to ascend or descend in a graphical representation. Until now, users had to rely on third party software that meshed data with Google Maps to provide similar results.
Of course, bikers are going to find the feature extremely useful in the countries where it has been rolled out. The sad part is that the feature is only available for the web version of Google Maps and hasn’t been rolled out for the smartphone apps yet. Although, that would eventually happen, we’re expecting.
[via]