Well, isn’t this pretty nifty?! You can complain all you want about elevated gas prices, but the facts remain. You can whine until the cows come home, but none of your woes will change the price of fuel. It’s time to stop complaining and start taking action. Driving less and walking more is a way to not only save some money, but a fine way to save the environment and get some exercise as well.

And wouldn’t you know it? Google has added a cool new feature onto their direction mapping service. Just like when you get directions by car, you enter your place of origin and your destination, but once you hit submit and get the automobile results, you’ll see a “Walking” option on the upper left pane, next to the “For car” option.

Now as Google usually does with new services, the Walking directions option is still in beta, but while taking it for a test-run, the infrastructure and delivery seemed pretty tight. The service lists the itenary pretty much like its car companion, though cutting out the unsafe walking roads. We don’t want to be walking through any freeways.

All in all, Google has made a pretty cool addition to their family of tools and services. The walking directions will surely inspire some people to let the car sit for awhile as they go for their new found walking treks. If you want to give the service a test run for yourself, just head over to Google Maps.

Google Maps Walking Directions via Treehugger