At the 10th annual American bike summit google announced that they’re maps features will now include bike routes for 150 U.S states. The feature includes 15,000 miles of off-street bike trails gathered by the Rails to trails conservatory a Washington, D.C. based nonprofit that has collected trail information for its website. Google made the decision after being given a petition with over 50 000 signatures for bike routes to be added to the google maps features.
ONline tools for mapping bike routes have existed for years. For example RideTheCity.com. It also tell you bike shops on you route path.Promoting bicycle travel for utilitarian purposes, in addition to recreation and exercise, has become a federal objective since Congress opened new sources of funding for bicycle facilities with the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, or ISTEA, in 1991.This continued over the next decade and now federal planning requirements must consider bicyclists in state and Metropolitan Planning Organization, or MPO, long-range transportation plans.
The League of American Bicyclists sponsored the American Bike Summit, hopes the Google feature will encourage wary would-be cyclists to get on the road, give more seasoned bikers the respect they deserve, and curb unnecessary motorist pollution by highlighting safe routes:
-Dark green indicates a dedicated bike-only trail
-Light green indicates a dedicated bike lane along a road
-Dashed green indicates roads that are designated as preferred for bicycling but without dedicated lanes
The tool is far from perfect, however. It does not yet work for mobile devices, so bikers will have to map their routes from home or the office before setting out. And Google’s algorithm that combines input from bike lanes, topography, and traffic signals is still just an algorithm.If you spot a problem in the bike map you can you can suggest a route change or make a correction using Google’s “report a problem” Feature.
Too bad they don’t have this in Canada yet!
i can’t wait for them to come to Canada it will be the best. this is a vary good blog post keep blogging XD