This Just In: googlemaps for bikes!

[tulip]

While indicating trails is nice in areas that have trails, it's not going to cut it for most cyclists because we ride on the roads because there are alot more roads than trails. I will take a look at the google maps for bikes; I hope it's more than a trail overlay.

I suggest they adopt a road classification system based on the Michelin maps. I am familiar with the Michelin maps of France. Autoroutes (interstates) are blue and not open to bikes. National Routes (like highways) are red and are typically too heavily travelled by cars to be very bike friendly. Departmental Routes are yellow and are generally very good for cycling. Roads indicated in white are the smallest (and often the most interesting) roads, and are excellent for cycling, although sometimes a circuitous.

With Michelin maps, I can go to a part if France that i've never been to before and confidently travel by bike for errands or touring.

That's what we need in the US. That's what Google maps should provide. US roads are already classified type, so the baseline us already done.

[OakLeaf]

I just googled the addresses I used to commute to and from in Columbus, OH, 25 years ago. The green overlays in Columbus, at least, the dotted green lines are bike routes designated by the city over roads open to cars, the solid green lines are trails. All of the commute is over roads that are open to all vehicles (then and now); while it didn't return exactly the route I used to take, traffic has changed a lot in 25 years, too. It does go through one pretty sketchy neighborhood that I might not want to ride through alone, or outside commuter hours even with one or two others, but I really wouldn't expect Google Maps to take the neighborhood into account.

W/R/T the road classifications, honestly, if I'm planning a long trip in an unfamiliar area, I prefer paper maps, which all do have that kind of legend. Paper maps let me see the big picture the way no computer screen can. Obviously the final routing I'll do with Street Atlas or the like. Unfortunately, the Michelin routing software isn't sold in the USA, and I don't need it enough to buy it grey-market. I guess if I were planning a bici trip anywhere in Europe, I probably would. I've bought grey-market software before (back when they first came out with the Petit Larousse in CD-ROM and weren't selling it in the USA) - it's expensive, but it's available.

[tulip]

I was referring to the paper Michelin maps. I am not familiar with their software. I prefer paper maps, too, but Google maps makes getting directions from A to B so easy. I'm getting spoiled, I'm afraid.

[OakLeaf]

Also... one thing I often do when mapping an unfamiliar running route on mapmyrun, is to go to the aerial/satellite view. That not only gives me a pretty good idea of the level of traffic/whether a road is a major artery, it tells me what the neighborhood looks like and whether I would enjoy being there, whether there's a shoulder, and if so, how wide it is, and also where the stop lights are when I need to cross a major road.

[Biciclista]

6 cyclists from Seattle designed this thing in 5 months.

Fantastic I've just tried it. It even has a place for us to report routes that are inappropriate for bikes.


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...5_brier10.html
Google engineers who built the company's new bicycle-route mapping service didn't need to look far for inspiration.

The team is based at the Fremont office right alongside the Burke-Gilman Trail.

Bike commuters at Google offices around the country helped the Seattle-based team build and refine the new feature for Google Maps, which is launching Wednesday. That coincides with the National Bike Summit cycling advocacy event this week in Washington, D.C.

The small team built the feature in just five months, adding a new map layer that provides suggested routes for bicyclists in 150 cities across the U.S. It joins the walking and transit directions already provided by Google.

It also comes as maps move to the forefront of the battle between Google and Microsoft. Mapping underpins new locally targeted advertising efforts that may provide the next wave of growth for the search giants, especially as more computing is done on mobile devices that transmit users' location.
snip....

[tulip]

I checked it out, and I like it. It is not just a trail overlay as I feared. I will try out some of their routes and report back. In fact, I'll start today on a series of short errands I have to run (by bike--it's going to be 73F!)

Thanks, Mr. Silver. And thanks, Google!

* * *
EDIT: I just checked their proposed route from my house to a conference center that I frequent for work, and the route could be better. It has a long stretch on a very busy road that has shopping center after shopping center for miles and miles. I would not ride my bike on that road, but there are alternate routes through adjacent residential areas (not as direct). I think in some cases this will be most useful in conjunction with a paper map or iPhone google map to explore alternates while on the road. But it's a start and I appreciate that.

[Pedal Wench]

Cool! I'm doing a fleche in a few weeks and had just spent time yesterday mapping out our route -- it's in SC and NC, and I'm not at all familiar with the roads. I just loaded up the Google map of it and switched it to route by bicycle, and sure enough - it shifted the route to smaller roads in many places. Nice!