By now most of us have, at one time or another, made use of Google Maps. The search engine’s geographic applications have certainly grown more sophisticated since their introduction through such expanded features as satellite imagery and the ground-level street view option. The company announced this week the addition of yet one more tool: using Google Maps to plan your trip now includes an option designed for those who get from Point A to Point B by way of two wheels instead of four.
Wired, PC World and Bikeradar.com are reporting that Google Maps now includes a bike path feature that gives directions specifically tailored to those getting around by pedal power. As explained on the company’s blog, the expanded mapping service arises from extensive user feedback touting how helpful it would be to have such a bike-specific route planning function. While similar comments and requests continued to roll in, the Google team was quietly at work behind the scenes building a functioning utility that was accurate, comprehensive and helpful.
Google product manager Shannon Guymon explains:
“… we knew that when we added the feature, we wanted to do it right: we wanted to include as much bike trail data as possible, provide efficient routes, allow riders to customize their trip, make use of bike lanes, calculate rider-friendly routes that avoid big hills and customize the look of the map for cycling to encourage folks to hop on their bikes.”
To use Google Maps to plan for a bike trip, click on ‘get directions’ and then select ‘bicycling’ from the list of options in the drop down menu. Guymon’s blog post indicates that thanks to a partnership with Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, the new feature launches with more than 12,000 miles of bike trails loaded into their database. Additional data will continue to be added, some that the project team already has in the hopper, and other revisions expected to arise from user feedback.
And it’s safe to assume that the helpful new feature is currently a topic of enthusiastic discussion in Washington DC where the National Bike Summit is currently underway, an event that Google has selected to officially unveil the new tool. This annual event, launched 10 years ago, continues to witness expanding participation reflecting an increase in the use of the bicycle for exercise and transportation. Reminding us of the importance and benefits of bicycling, the event-sponsoring League of American Bicyclists insists that ”we need more people on bikes more often, and the reasons just keep on growing. Whether it’s obesity, health care, climate change, air quality, energy independence, traffic congestion, economic development or quality of life issues — bicycling has got to be part of the solution.”
**Updated March 11, 12:55 p.m. EST**
We’re sorry but at the same time compelled to report that the early reviews of the bike mapping feature from New York City residents arrive in the form of a collective Bronx cheer. As the New York Post and Information Week report, the trip planning results have sent city bicyclists on their way to some bike rides that will no doubt remain memorable, but for some rather unfortunate reasons. Suggested bike routes included heavily truck-trafficked streets where better and safer alternates are available, as well as paths and roadways where bikes are specifically prohibited.
In the same spirit of giving the people what they want that led to creating the bike route function in the first place, Google is reportedly hearing the user feedback loud and clear and is already working on improvements. User feedback will continue to be instrumental in adding new information to the database as well as in tidying up flaws such as those reportedly found in the New York City results.
Photo by faster panda kill kill via Flickr.