The Chainlink

Google Introduces Bicycling Directions

Stolen from Bob Kastigar. Credit where credit's due.

Google Announces Google Biking Directions at the League of American
Bicyclists' 2010 National Bike Summit

This new feature includes: step-by-step bicycling directions; bike
trails outlined directly on the map; and a new "Bicycling" layer that
indicates bike trails, bike lanes, and bike-friendly roads. The
directions feature provides step-by-step, bike-specific routing
suggestions - similar to the directions provided by our driving,
walking, or public transit modes. Simply enter a start point and
destination and select "Bicycling" from the drop-down menu. You will
receive a route that is optimized for cycling, taking advantage of bike
trails, bike lanes, and bike-friendly streets and avoiding hilly terrain
whenever possible.

http://maps.google.com/

Click on "Get Directions" and select from drop-down list.

Click on "More..." box and check "Bicycling"

League of American Bicyclists Press Release
a href="http://www.bikeleague.org/blog/2010/03/national-bike-summit-2010-google-announces-bike-google-maps-at-summit-today/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(7, 77, 143);">http://www.bikeleague.org/blog/2010/03/national-bike-summit-2010-google-announces-bike-google-maps-at-summit-today/>


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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by J.P. on March 11, 2010 at 1:51pm
Yeah, not sure - maybe. For example Winnemac Park has plenty of people on bikes, and if you map 2100 Foster to 2100 Argyle it leads you around the park. I - for one - would of course just cross the park.
Permalink Reply by Adam "Cezar" Jenkins on March 11, 2010 at 1:55pm
It maybe that google even has alleys listed in Chicago. They didn't for a while. It may not distinguish them much from other small streets.

heather said:
When you drag the line to create a better route, does Google receive that data? Or do you always have to report it separately?

I wrote in an error report about all the alleys. Not sure if there's a person who reads those or if they just go into some database. I will say, though, reading reports from various other cities, it seems like a lot of people are pretty happy with it. The whole alley problem may be Chicago-specific. (I am not well-traveled and don't know how common alleys are in other cities.)
Permalink Reply by Adam "Cezar" Jenkins on March 11, 2010 at 1:56pm
I noticed that they got their path information from rails to trails, which holds their own large database. They may not have enough information on the park paths as of yet.

J.P. said:
No, no I am happy with it. I just thought the whole alley thing was weird. I don't think Google receives the changes you make to the route.
Most of the routes I checked out were dead on, there are some problems with mapping some parks (which you can go through, but Google will lead you around them).
Not sure what the previous comparison to MapMyRide was, I think Google Bike Maps is already better. MapMyRide gives you essentially walking directions - the only active intelligent routing they do is keep you away from highways/expressways etc.
Permalink Reply by Larry Mysz on March 12, 2010 at 1:10pm
I tried it on some suburban and rural routes. It has some quirks in either the maps or the algorithm. I hope some of the issues will be fixed in future releases.

In rural areas it seems to pick a lot of gravel roads rather than using low traffic state routes. They seem similar to the routes one gets when using the Walking option. On the plus side, it frequently offers several routes to pick from, one of which is likely to be reasonable.

In both rural areas and burbs, there were a couple of odd cases where, when roads intersected, it avoided the intersection by zigzagging thru residential areas. It didn't like to route thru the stop light. In both the city and burbs it zigzaged a lot on and off of perfectly good roads, including some with bike lanes.

It is currently missing two of the longest bike paths in the state ... the I&M Canal from Joliet to LaSalle (approx 60 mi) and the Hennepin Canal from Bureau Junction to Moline (also approx 60 mi)

On the plus side, it did cut 10 miles off of a 50 mile trip from Homewood to the Indiana Dunes SP.

I see it as a useful tool in addition to but not instead of state and city bike route maps.
Permalink Reply by Duppie on June 4, 2010 at 3:48pm
Bicycling directions are now available on Google Maps for your Blackberry.You will need to download v4.2.0. (They have been available for Android devices for a few weeks now)

Now somebody please remind me why I need a Garmin Edge....
Permalink Reply by Michael A on June 4, 2010 at 3:50pm
because a garmin tracks what you actually DID

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34983285
Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 4, 2010 at 3:57pm
Definitely a case where we need to add feedback, as there's a perfectly nice path through the middle of the park that I've used many times.

J.P. said:
Yeah, not sure - maybe. For example Winnemac Park has plenty of people on bikes, and if you map 2100 Foster to 2100 Argyle it leads you around the park. I - for one - would of course just cross the park.

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