European community for mobility management

Biking directions added to Google Maps

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May 12, 2010 by allinx headquarters Comments (2)

bicycle, europe, google, maps, trail, lane, cycling

Let's say you want to bike to work, or maybe you want to drive less and spend more time outdoors. Biking directions can help you find a convenient and efficient route that makes use of dedicated bike trails or lanes and avoids hills whenever possible. To find biking directions, now you can also use Google Maps.

Besides direction they also added information about bike trails, lanes and recommended roads directly onto the map. This can help you get a better sense of your route, or let you find trails nearby for a recreational ride. You can use Google Maps to: get turn by turn biking directions, see trails and bike lanes directly on the map , drag and drop points to customize your route.

Thanks primarily to a partnership with the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, they now have more than 12,000 miles of trails included in biking directions and outlined directly on the map.

Now they just need to find a way to start this function in Europe… Meanwhile if you are or cycle in the USA, head over to http://maps.google.com/biking to try it for yourself and then hop on your bike!

Source: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/

Juan Carlos Escudero Achiaga

Bike riders in Vitoria-Gasteiz can also now plan bike routes before going out. A new website set up by the City Council allows people to find the safest way to move from one place to another in the city. Users can also get parking information and can calculate the distance and estimated time to complete the course.

The bicycle users can design their itineraries through the ciclorouting web tool at http://www.vitoria-gasteiz.or/ciclorutas. The operation of the site, available in Spanish, Basque and English, is very simple. Users can type the origin and the destination to which the rider wants to move and automatically it’s obtained the optimal route taking into account the safety and functionality of the various possible routes, the provision of bicycle lanes, pacified streets.

In addition, the tool estimates the CO2 emissions savings of the route and provides information about calories burned during the ride. With this tool the City Council can also record the origins and destinations requested by cyclists. Thus, it can diagnose and plan future interventions in order to promote urban cycling.

Juan Carlos Escudero Achiaga 737 days ago