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Google adds bike lane with latest mapping feature

Now you can find routes that avoid big hills and heavily congested areas, as well as locate bike trails.
By Associated PressWed, Mar 10 2010 at 12:07 AM EST  4 Comments

Photo: Google Inc.
Google Inc. is adding a bike lane with its latest online mapping option.
 
The new bicycling directions available on Google Maps starting Wednesday supplement the guidance already provided to motorists and pedestrians. The biking directions initially will be available only for the United States.
 
At maps.google.com/biking, users can enter their starting point and destination just as with previous map tools, and will be presented with routes, itineraries and estimated travel times — and to account for all the variation in how fast different people pedal, the step-by-step biking directions factor in trip length, changes in elevation and even fatigue probability.
 
Google spent the past six months tweaking its mapping service so it could recommend routes that would steer bicyclists away from big hills and heavily congested streets. The feature can be used to pinpoint bicycling trails in more than 150 cities.
 
Bike directions already have been available on some smaller Web sites, but Google is the first major Internet mapping service provider to add the option.
 
Google's mapping service already is the most popular in the U.S., with more than 55 million visitors in February, according to comScore. MapQuest, owned by AOL Inc., ranked second with more than 36 million visitors.
 
Copyright 2010  AP News
 
Thumbnail photo: Jupiterimages
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    Yes! Bikes will rule the world!

    Posted By Avocadoinparadise - Thu, Mar 11 2010 at 12:11 PM EST

    This is wonderful!!! Couple that with this announcement about DC adding a bunch of bike lanes this spring, including on Pennsylvania Avenue, and I am just ecstatic!! Critical mass of bikes must have arrived!!!
    .... More

    agreed

    Posted By Mary Luke - Thu, Mar 11 2010 at 12:25 PM EST

    I was just reading of an electric bike that is a regular bike when riding along....but the "motor" comes on when you hit a particularly bad hill....so it's not a fitness bike but a commuting/shopping bike for those of us who use our bike as our car, so to speak.

    and putting bikes on an equal mapping level with cars is a great next step.

    love it

    Posted By md52 - Thu, Mar 11 2010 at 10:11 AM EST

    So now I can see if a route is truly bikeable or not...for a poor map reader like me, a dream come true.

    the coolest part about this....

    Posted By Phil Signet - Wed, Mar 10 2010 at 2:55 PM EST

    ...is that the easier the bike commute, the more likely people are to use bikes, and then the more likely for their towns to support it with lanes. Take cars....everybody drives them because everything is built around highways. In NYC, everyone takes the subway because their routes go everywhere. This will hopefully build demand.

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