“Streets are not just for cars.” — Jim Licinski, Google
At the National Bike Summit today, Peter Birch from Google announced the debut of bicycling directions for Google Maps. Cyclists can enter their starting point and destination, select “bicycling,” and get a route favoring bike-friendly roads and paths.
A partnership with the Rails to Trails Conservancy will help gather the best trail and path information. But crowdsourcing will be vital in keeping the maps and routes accurate. Cyclists can submit their own corrections and suggestions.
We must mention the Google Maps Bike There blog and petition, the rallying point for getting Google to provide this service. Apparently their job is done, but they have plenty of other stuff worth reading. We hope they will continue.
Try Google Maps bike directions for yourself. You may be surprised how well it works, even at this early stage. It will only get better and better, as more and more cyclists add their tweaks and suggestions.
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