Earlier this month, I reported that Google Maps was testing walking directions on a small subset of users. This morning, I noticed that Google Maps now is offering walking directions for all Google Maps users.

For example, conduct a search for 200 Madison Ave to 200 Lexington Ave and you will see the option to take “Walking” directions as opposed to driving directions. Here is a picture:

I have asked several people I know to confirm that they are also seeing the walking directions option, and so far they have all confirmed that they see it as well. I am thinking that this is now officially live for all Google Maps users.

Ask.com was the only search engine to offering walking directions, but they recently killed off their mapping product. Yahoo and Microsoft both currently do not offer walking directions.

Postscript: The Google LatLong Blog has now made it official with one of their own blog posts announcing the new feature.

Related Topics: Google: Maps & Local

About The Author: Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here. For more background information on Barry, see his full bio over here. See more articles by Barry Schwartz