Slashgeo

Very Spatial points out Google launched Transit Beta. From the Transit website: "Google Transit Trip Planner enables you to enter the specifics of your trip—where you're starting, where you're ending up, what time of day you'd like to leave and/or arrive—then uses all available public transportation schedules and information to plot out the most efficient possible step-by-step itinerary. You can even compare the cost of your trip with the cost of driving the same route!" Update: 12/08 21:05 GMT by S :Slashdot also discusses the story.

This might not be major, but it's a nice little new addition to Google Maps: you can now get your transit schedules directly in Google Maps. From the official blog: "Depending on the data available for a given public transit system, Google Maps now shows the next departure times, what lines serve a specific station, and/or a link to the transit agency to get more detail. Try clicking on one of the little bus or tram icons on this map of Zurich, Switzerland, to see what we mean. [...] Our transit information is acquired through a variety of means, including transit agencies, geo data companies, websites, and maps. We are continuously working to expand our coverage." Related, The GEB discuss the transit layer in Google Earth.

The Vancouver Sun reports that "The British Columbia government has been meeting with representatives from Google Earth on an initiative whereby the government will supply updated information about the province for Google Earth and Google Maps, the online 3D-mapping system used by 250 million people worldwide."

As my colleague who attended GeoWeb summarized, "Google Earth is about to close a deal with BC, Canada for BC to provide them data for maps and location-based data like transit info. Their next phenomenon will be Google Earth Transit, with all possibilities for transit, including driving, bus, taxi, rail, etc, from one location to the other, for anywhere in the world."

Here's the most interesting Google related geonews I found for January so far. Google significantly updated Google Sky (a little more on the GEB), with many new layers and associated data. Still from the Official Google blog, some news an discussion about Google Transit. Not to miss is the impressive comparison of a real flight and a Google Earth flight in the Swiss Alps. Amongst the other GE news, there's the WarViews animated conflict geodata (via OE) and surface-to-air missile sites and range dataset for GE. The 3D Route Builder which uses GE which reached version 1.0. Here's a 3D-mouse working with GE. And finally, a few navigation shortcuts for Google Earth 4. See also the numerous related stories below.