Navigate by Walking with Google Maps

Attention to the vast population with an Android phone with a software version number of 1.6 or higher. If you haven’t already you should check the market for an update. If you do that on your handset you should be seeing the familiar Android Market update notification.  Google has rolled out another update to their increasingly awesome Google Maps application.  This time around (v4.5) Google has meshed the previously available walking directions and navigation features into one beta product – Walking Navigation (Beta).  Like the name implies, Google Maps now helps you with walking directions in the same manner they’ve been helping drivers with turn-by-turn navigation. This is yet another feature baked into the latest release is the new Google Maps search bar which resides at the top of the app screen.  A quick tap gets you going with Search, Places, and Layers options.  Also handy in Maps 4.5 is the ability to filter search results by distance/ratings, view prices categorized with dollar signs, and look at cross streets for places.  If you haven’t already done so, go to the Android Market and update your Google Maps let me know is this a good addition to this app and will you be using it?!