Yesterday evening I was searching Google maps for the fastest way from a colleagues house to mine and came across some interesting Rome underground stations.
The Rome underground is expanding with 3 new metro lines: C, D and B1. Construction has already started on some of these lines but not all, and most of the stations are scheduled to open between 2008 and 2012. I was indeed very surprised to find them already in place for this search on Google Maps. All the stations southbound from Porta Maggiore in the direction of Tor Pignattara are either construction sites or just plans for the future. The public transportation plans can be found at the official web site (italian only).
What if I didn’t live in Rome and was a tourist looking for accommodation close to underground stations for getting around easily. I would have been in for a big surprise once I got there. On the other hand, if I was looking to buy real estate I would want to know about future public transport enhancements in the neighbourhood.
My question is: shouldn’t these stations be flagged as “under construction”?
Technorati tags: google maps - maps
2 comments ↓
my question is: how can it be that google is so well informed?
to answer yours: yes! they should point out that these lines are under construction
Actually, the stations marked in the mentioned map are not of a future underground line, but of an already existent light railway/tramway line, which is actually kind of old: it is the Roma-Pantano line, sometimes affectionately called the “tramvetto (small tramway) della Casilina” (the “via Casilina” being the road it mainly runs on). See the page http://www.atac.roma.it/linee/m_linee.asp?p=1&i=6&NUM=FU01A in the website of Rome’s public transport.
Hope this helps,
Daniele
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