Google Maps has been focussing on the Indian market for the past few years. After launching the Local Guide, Cab Booking and other features Google Maps now has navigation for bikers.

The two-wheeler mode navigation launched by Google Maps can be of great help for bikers in India. Due to the traffic conditions; bikers are known to take alternative routes not suitable for bigger vehicles.

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The latest update of Google Maps comes with an option to choose your mode of transport as a two-wheeler. This will give you alternative routes and diversions to avoid the traffic with your motorbike. You can also check the comparative traffic status for the given period of time.

Google Maps has become more and more intuitive in providing real-time traffic status and diversions. It would be great to see it suggest narrow routes for the bikers.

Previously Google Maps considered both motorcycles and cars the same while suggesting routes. Now that it has a separate two-wheeler mode, the additional routes may start popping up in Google Maps. Soon you may see a number of new routes being available on Google Maps when you shift to the biker mode.

How Google distinguishes between narrow lanes, alleys and off roads will also have to be seen in the future. While this is a great feature and would help in reducing and redirecting some of the motorbike traffic; the routes will have to be moderated for safety. It is not uncommon in India for bikers to take shortcuts through narrow lanes between houses or over a footpath. Having such routes freely available to bikers may push a lot of bikes on such paths.

There is an alley not shown on the map below which local bikers use to bypass the 3 minutes of wait time at the signal. With this update, that route may be available for all bikers and the amount of traffic diverted may just clog up the narrow lane. There are also other routes through the residential section of the area, which may see a similar situation.

Android Police had noted the Motorcycle mode in source codes of previous releases. Google finally launched the feature in its latest release.

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