I want to share about using Google Maps to find route and more information such as address and travel cost.
Well, the story begun when I started working in Yokohama, Japan.
I’ve been asked to extend my passport validity. In my previous company in Jakarta, when I needed to go somewhere, I’ll just call the lobby and ask the operator to prepare a driver to me to get me anywhere. In Japan, it’s a little bit differ because you have to go by yourself with your own cost which you can reimburse later.
The problem is how is you don’t know how to reach the place, as in my case, I just new in Japan, and to find address in Japan is completely difficult. There is no name for the road and the number of building or area is not in correct number of sequence. I guess only the postman who knew how to find address in Japan.
In this case, I have to thank to Google Maps because it’s make a lot easier to find address. I’ll show you how I can get the direction to Indonesia Embassy in Tokyo, while my office is in Yokohama City.
Firstly, open Google and click on tab “Maps”. Fill in the keyword KBRI Tokyo (green circle), and you will got as depict below:
Some places might be written in Japanese character Kanji (brown box), but by selecting the test and copy paste to google translate, you can find easily what the meaning is.
After I’m sure that it’s is the place I want, right click on the maps will show you some option. Then choose “Direction to here” (red circle).
The screen in google maps will show the following:
The location that I put as target (red box) which mean “Indonesian embassy” will be mark as “B” and in the column “B” will show the complete address.
The next step is to find where the place that I’ll be use as my starting point. I zoom out the map, I move until I find Yokohama city, then I zoom in the location that I quite recognize. I browse until I find the train station “Sakuragicho” which is the nearest station to my office.
In the map, precisely on the test “Sakuragicho”, right click and choose “Direction from here” (red box).
And automatically, Google Maps will processing the data because the start and end point already defined. And the result will be as shown below:
Notice the green box, there are some alternatives you can use to reach that location, for example automobiles, trains, and on foot. If we select a car, of course, google maps will show the route of the road. Google maps here suggesting for a train with a few choice lines as indicated in the brown box. The alternatives train route shown completely with the travel duration and total cost… really impressive.
In the red box, we also can define when we will start our journey, the date and the hour. These things quite important because the train schedule is not the same on weekdays or weekend, and also the interval is different according to rush hour (7-10 am and 3-7 pm).
It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?
If we pick one of the alternative route, the maps will show you the path (pink marked in google maps), the transit station, which line to be used and the direction, and how many station you will pass… (wow), as shown below:
Really informative, isn’t it?
This is indicate that the mass transportation in Japan is really efficient with a very accurate and up-to-date data. If our target should using bus, Google maps will also show the data of the bus.
So, that it is. I hope this information will be useful to you too.
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