That is why I have compiled a list of 3 handy dandy features of Google Maps that you may not have known about – features that will help you make it through the day without hitting a pedestrian due to your frustrating experiences like the ones pictured above.

Google Driving Directions – Drag and Drop Routes

For those who really want to customize how they get from Point A to Point B, Google Maps has a tool that allows you to drag the route they have provided in certain directions say, because you know that the driving directions given will require you to traverse a heavily bogged down construction zone. New directions are provided on the spot, as if you had just searched for them. Here’s an example.

In light of the Los Angeles Lakers’ recent NBA Championship, here is a set of directions from the Staples Center (where they play) to The Walt Disney Concert Hall, both in Los Angeles:

Now if I decided that I wanted to go on the Harbor Freeway, CA 110 for some crazy reason, I could drag the route:

Here is a side by side comparison of the driving directions. They are automatically calculated and changed as you drag your route. Pretty neat, huh?

One thing you may need take note of is that your constant dragging back and forth may be cumbersome to sort through. You may find that the final directions you obtain after fooling around with the path is an infinite loop. Although this is a very handy feature, make sure to double check that all of the directions are feasible.

Congestion Overlays

It is every traveler’s worst nightmare to run into accidents, construction, congestion, or an overall slowing down of traffic. This is most likely why Google Driving Directions has provided an extremely useful overlay of your map that describes current driving conditions, with a full blown legend that houses live traffic updates along roads.

The only foreseeable downside to this feature is that it mostly only provides these overlays on larger roads, highways and interstates. Then again, larger roads are the ones that we worry the most about.

I’m sure all of you can read, so I won’t go into detail to explain what the colors mean. Certain icons mean certain things, for instance in the above screenshot, the warning sign denotes some type of accident or stoppage due to hazardous conditions, whereas a small man shoveling coal (or at least that’s what it looks like) denotes construction. A red circle with a line through it means that the current lane is closed.

Let’s say you have a planned event, and you would like to know what the traffic conditions will most likely be like at that time. No problem! There is a feature that allows users to choose the day of the week as well as the time of day, and Google Maps will provide a prediction based on aggregate data it has compiled previously. This should give users a better idea of what to expect on certain roads during rush hour or things of that nature:

Search Box Customizations

Although technically more than one “feature,” there are certain things to know about the direction search box that can prove to be useful when finding directions. Believe it or not, I have had more than one friend come up to me and ask me if there was a way to add multiple “checkpoints” to stop by on along their trip. It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you take time to read:

If we should decide to add a final destination (no pun intended), we can simply click the link and hooray, we have successfully set up segmented directions for a cross country road trip to the Empire State Building:

Google Driving directions also has a dropdown menu for you to choose by what medium would like to travel through. This service may be limited because most of it is still in beta, but certain locations DO give users the freedom to choose. As of now, it is limited to “by car,” “by public transit,” or “by walking”:

Finally, if we click “show options”, we can choose to have Google Driving directions search for routes that avoid toll roads or highways, or both:

So, there you have it. We hope that wherever you go, you drive safely and are aware of your surroundings. Google Driving Directions is an extremely powerful branch of Google Maps – it provides users with a lot of freedom and flexibility to roam around and explore new areas without actually going there.

This article only provides a few of the handy features that Google Driving Directions encompasses, but there is so much more to learn about. Check out other features of Google Maps, as well as their new mobile phone feature!

Has Google Maps helped you map your transit route or get your out of stuck traffic? Let us know how you have used it, in the comments.

So that’s why not everyone keeps to sports games or shooters, that’s the reason some people come back from work or school and….well, work.

Only it’s a job that isn’t ours. We want to build or guide trains, fly planes, draw out transport infrastructures, or even create whole societies.

We come back home, and we work; but it’s more than that. In a way, we come back home, and we dream. We dream – ironically – about who we are not. Who we could’ve been, or who we’d want to be.

Two Great Free Transport Simulator Games

We’ve crawled the interweb, looking for simulators. For your eyes only, dear MUO reader, we’ve lined up two of the very best free transport sims.

OpenTTD -Transport Sim

OpenTTD is an open source clone of the ever so famous Micropose game Transport Tycoon Deluxe. The developers have tried to mimic the original game as well as possible.

The game does a great job in imitation, but it does more than that. OpenTTD has many additional features over Transport Tycoon Deluxe; for instance, the maps are up to 64 times bigger, a stable multiplayer mode is added, new pathfinding algorithms were written, and so much more.

In the game, you can lay out train routes for trains, cars, boats, and even aircraft! The game’s pretty advanced as well; you’re able to build monorails, construct aquaducts, and even bribe town authorities.

As already mentioned above, the game also features a multiplayer mode. You can play with up to 11 people in 8 different companies, or as spectators.

You can download the game here. If you need help, you can also find a very extended user manual on the wiki.

Simutrans – Multi Platform Transport Sim

Simutrans is a railroad simulator for Windows, BeOS, Mac OS X and Linux.

In the game, you’ve got trains, airplanes, buses, trucks, ships, trams, monorails, and maglevs at your disposal, to create the perfect traffic network. Set up a traffic network within the city, or create connections between far-away cities with high speed trains.

Earn money by moving people in between cities, or transport goods for one of the many companies in the game. The better infrastructure you piece together, the more money you’ll be able to grab.

The game works with an executable (which you can download here) and a packset. Each packset features different graphics, and the definitions for the economy. For starters, it’s recommended to go with the included pak64, but if you’re up for something new, you can always download one of the additional packsets here.

Do you know of any other good transport simulator games? Or perhaps you prefer other kinds of simulators? You can tell us and the MakeUseOf readers all about it in the comments.

The gasoline powered combustion engine is really an engineering marvel. The thousands of parts that go into one single automobile still stands to this day as one of the greatest inventions on the planet.

Having said that however, we can’t deny that it doesn’t go without its flaws. Fuel costs, replacement parts and flat tires can put a severe dent in your paycheck. And that incredible joy of owning your first sports car can come quickly crashing to reality. Fortunately for us though, there are thousands of car enthusiasts out there willing to offer up their knowledge through blogs, forums, and creative web applications. I thought I would share several of the best that the web has to offer.

NOTE: A majority of these sites apply to those only located in the United States.

Fuel Savings

CostToDrive

Cost2Drive is a simple fuel calculation application that displays how much it is going to cost you to get you from one location to another. It’s all based upon the make and model of your vehicle, along with the average gas price in your starting county. It will also display the quickest route, the total number of miles, the number of gas gallons and even your carbon footprint. It’s a very handy tool for your next road trip.

Drive Pricing

Drive Pricing calculates gas costs from one location to another, with a few additional search options. After specifying your two locations of travel, you can select your grade of gasoline, your miles/gallon and whether you’re going to be making a round trip or not. Drive Pricing then displays your quickest route, total number of miles and of course total cost as well.

GasBuddy

GasBuddy has been the go to place for finding the latest up to date gas prices in your geographical area. While gas prices were rising in the United States, GasBuddy was one of the most popular places to find the lowest gas prices within your area.

The majority of data is user generated so even you can add your own prices and earn “points”. There are also fuel saving tips and tricks.

MyMileMarker

MyMileMarker is a simple fuel consumption calculator, to see how gasoline efficient your car is running. After each fill-up, you simply enter your mileage, number of gallons, and cost per gallon and MyMileMarker calculates your MPG.

Since most users won’t remember this when they get home and do it on the web, they also have a mobile version to enter from your phone of choice. Or even via text message. After a few entries the online application will begin to make projections for fuel cost and project number of miles.

FuelFrog

FuelFrog is a simple online application that tracks gas mileage based upon your fill-up entries that can be entered through their website or through your Twitter account. After you’ve begun adding your fill-ups, they will provide with charts and graphs on the amount you are spending over time, and where you are headed.

Service and Repair

ServiceBeacon

ServiceBeacon is a handy one-stop-shop to track everything related to your car on the web. It not only can track your fuel mileage, repairs and service, but can also notify you when additional services are needed for your specific make of car.

It also helps you locate the nearest dealer and notify you with important vehicle recalls. It can even communicate with up to 15,000 of its dealers and service shops to schedule your next appointment. And if you’ve decide to sell your car, you can transfer the car’s account to the next owner.

DriverSide

DriverSide is your all-in-one location for tracking recalls, services, value and more on your car. One of the nicest features about DriverSide is the ability to provide you with estimated repair costs on something that has broken down in your vehicle. So it can actually give a price on “What you SHOULD pay”, as opposed to what your mechanic is saying.

It’s a great place to keep track of your vehicles over time and see how their value is affected with each and every repair you place on them.

RepairPal

RepairPal is your local mechanics worst nightmare. They provide independent prices on repairs and services for your vehicle. The site also offers common problems you’ll run into with your make of car, maintenance scheduling and tracking, and a huge 260,000+ service shop database. They even provide you a paid service to ask a live mechanic any question you like on the spot.

VehicleFixer

VehicleFixer is a DIY vehicle repair video site for beginners. It gives you step-by-step videos on simple things like checking and changing fluids, tire pressure and changing your battery. These easy video tutorials can save you lots of money in expensive labor costs that mechanics will charge you for in the shop.

VehicleFixer also includes the ability to enter your maintenance schedule and gas mileage as well.

FrugalMechanic

FrugalMechanic is similar to price comparison sites you’ve seen before, but only searches through various online parts vendors. If you’re looking to replace something small in your car and you don’t want to pay the higher amounts you’ll pay at your local NAPA, FrugalMechanic is a great place to look.

As you can see, many different kinds of sites have been developed for those looking to take better care of their car, and make it run more efficiently. Whether you are just looking to track your gas spending, maintenance and repairs, or simply want to save some money and do some repair work on your own, you have several different options to choose from.

Having said that, I know there several additional options out there. Whether it be a blog, or just a general auto website, we’d like to hear about them.

What blogs, sites or web applications do you use to keep up on your car?

That is where HopStop comes in. It is billed as your city transit guide. They provide door-to-door subway and bus directions and maps for New York City. You can also search for places to eat, drink, sleep and see in the City Guide. While the site says it only works for NYC it seems to now work for Boston, Chicago, Long Island, San Francisco and a few others.

With HopStop you can:

• Send directions by e-mail or text message to a cell phone directly from the website.
• Plan a trip with multiple destinations using the Itinerary.
• Get directions or the locations of nearby subway and bus stops remotely on your cell phone or PDA with the HopStop Mobile SIte.
  

I jumped on their site and punched in my intersection and Time Square’s intersection and this is what it spit back at me:

Directions that are perfect. Thanks HopStop!

To make it even better they have mobile options! Yes and it is still completely free – FTW!

I know they will be adding even more cities soon but in the mean time tell us what YOU use to find subway, tube or metro directions. Holler at us in the comments kiddies!