Google has been capturing additional Street View imagery in transport hubs and city centres involved in the accessibility pilot. Image supplied by Google.

The world’s most popular mapping service has introduced wheelchair-accessible transit routes, trialing the service in London, New York, Tokyo, Mexico City, Boston, and Sydney.

While a raft of app developers have produced navigation and mapping platforms to cater to those with mobility needs, the search giant’s impending roll-out of this feature is a significant benefit due to all the existing functionality that Google Maps already provides.

Google developed the new feature in conjunction with public transport agencies in the cities involved in the initial rollout, along with crowdsourced accessibility information that it has been collecting from users, and 200 meetups organised by Local Guides to add accessibility information to Maps in September 2017.

The service is accessible as a route option after public transport is selected as a mode for navigation, and presents a list of accessible routes between two selected points. Google said that they have additionally captured Street View vision of public transport stations and city centres so that users can preview these locations ahead of their journey.

Google plans to work with public transport agencies worldwide to expand the service in coming months.

You can catch Google’s geospatial technologist, Ed Parsons, speaking at the Geosmart Asia – Locate ’18 conference at Adelaide Convention Centre from April 9-11.