The more feedback Google gets from all of us, the better the mapping will become. And as others have said, the fact that they have created a bicycle-route mapping overlay is huge.

One brooklyn-centric thing they didn’t anticipate, however, was Bruce Ratner’s ability to have New York City close roads for his Atlantic Yards project. Fifth Avenue between Flatbush and Atlantic no longer exists, except as a fond memory on Google Maps.

I tried generating Google directions for some of the trips I take regularly in Madison, with mixed results. In a few cases, Google’s suggestions exact match to the routes I use. In some other cases, the route they chose was arguably correct, but far from ideal.

In some future revision, I hope Google allows users to state preferences; for example, do you want a fast route, or a non-intimidating one? (And how do you feel about hills?) Forester-type vehicular cyclists and 70-year-old grandmothers riding Limes have different needs, and, ideally, Google should accommodate all of them.

I just ‘reported’ to them that what they unfortunately call the “72nd Street Transverse” in Central Park is nothing of the kind (i.e., not a transverse). Maybe I’m being picky, but that little misnomer is pretty important to a bicyclist, who rarely risks his life on one of the *actual* below-ground-level transverses (65th, 79th, 86th & 96th).

Even people who just learned how to ride a bike weren’t born yesterday; give them some credit for understanding the larger benefits of cycling vis-a-vis automobiling and the opportunity to take the free routing that they receive from Google with a grain of salt.

There seems to be methods wherein updates may be somewhat automatic using GPS information from cell phones.

“Ride the City” for New York City may be one such web-based application with considerable advantage when integrated with Google Maps and Microsoft Bing among others.

Perhaps Federal Stimulus efforts could be applied to the costs involved in improved national bicycle route mapping using cell phone logging of GPS automation.

It is great that Bicycling has been added to Google Maps.

What would be most helpful would be more detailing on cycling information such as bike lanes, bike paths or greenways such as that provided by the Ride the City web application used on the New York City Department of Transportation at:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bicyclists/bikemaps.shtml

Sorry you don’t like where I volunteer.

Regardless of any association I still find the routes I am receiving strange from a GIS and cyclist perspective. And I know if I sent my non cyclist sister down that route she would not think it was safe to ride a bike, when there are very safe shorter alternatives.

The public looks to Google as the best source, the catch is that if Google gives them a poor route the reaction is that there must not be a good one. That may mean they won’t ride. I want more rider’s, that’s my ultimate concern.

As soon as Google Maps stops referring to Harlem “Clason Point” I’ll be truly impressed.

The kinks will be worked out here and elsewhere. It shows that Google puts biking on par with driving and walking as deserving of mapping assistance.

I also looked up DC to San Fran and Portland to see if it would give the transAmerica routing. It doesn’t but it does give cross country cycling directions that keeps to trails and paths as much as possible!

–John Tangenberg Co-Chair Sierra Club Angeles Chapter GIS Committee

I’ve only tried some directions so far, and they seem on point. i’m very impressed. and the bike routes layer is awesomely cool.

that said, it might not be the best time for the Sierra Club to be throwing stones…

Now, Lumumba was absolutely right that the behavior of the big corporate green groups—Conservation International, TNC, and, I’m afraid, to a lesser but still significant degree, the Sierra Club—is very compromised in terms of their approach to policy.

Tulsa, like many cities in the west, is laid out with wide, high traffic streets in a one square mile grid, with shopping centers at the corners and low-traffic neighborhoods in the middle.

For the first mile, and then crossing I-44, Google put a bicycle rider on one of those wide, high traffic streets. From that point on, however, the route went through the middle of low-traffic neighborhoods, with dozens of turns on residential streets.

The first mile is a problem with Tulsa, not Google. In many places, entrances to a neighborhood on one side of an arterial do not line up with entrances to another, so you have to ride on the arterial. And only arterial streets cross the highways.

It looks to me, in my area, that routing cyclists to advertisers has won out over how pleasant / safe the ride is on a traffic count / speed basis.

I am concerned that newbie riders using this service will have what they expect proven to them, riding is dangerous, and that they won’t stick with it. The cost of free routing may be reinforcing societies idea that cycling is not a transportation alternative in the US, as people are routed for Googles gain not the quietist safest route.

Just may personal experience / thoughts on the beta version.

John Tangenberg Co-Chair Sierra Club Angeles Chapter GIS Committee

But wouldn’t it be quicker to take Broadway all the way down? I mean, you’re at Broadway at Herald Square, and City Hall’s at Broadway too?

But yah, that’s “essentially” the same route as what you wrote.

I wonder how much “weighting” the system gives to bike lanes?