http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: "Google Maps' 'Bicycling' route-finding arrives in UK" en Wed, 01 Jul 2026 16:53:04 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7571#post-85364 Sun, 23 Sep 2012 14:53:47 +0000 wee folding bike 85364@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Only a few days since Apple removed Google maps from iOS. They did replace it with their own version but it's not the same. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7571#post-85361 Sun, 23 Sep 2012 14:35:33 +0000 kaputnik 85361@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>This may be old news, but today is the first day I've noticed what appear to be NCN numbers on the main google map.</p> <p><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8036/8015414836_cd56f68bca.jpg"> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7571#post-78030 Sat, 14 Jul 2012 11:35:20 +0000 chdot 78030@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>From Private Eye</p> <p>"</p> <p>WATERWAYS<br /> Sold up the river<br /> WHAT luck for the Canal and River Trust<br /> WW (CART) charity - attracting one of the<br /> world's biggest companies as corporate partner<br /> just as it takes over care of the canals from the<br /> defunct British Waterways (BW) this month.</p> <p>Google will be helping by "literally putting<br /> towpaths on the map - Google Maps", according to<br /> CART (never mind that towpaths have been on<br /> Ordnance Survey maps, and online service OS<br /> getamap, for years, as well as on specialist map<br /> sites like canalplan and walkit).</p> <p>Perhaps quangos like BW would not have been<br /> so cash-strapped in the first place if some mega-<br /> corporations had paid their fair share of tax. Google<br /> is estimated to avoid £100m in UK corporation tax<br /> by channelling its revenue offshore (Eyes passim).</p> <p>Nevertheless newspapers responded to the<br /> announcement with a slew of feel-good tales about<br /> how nice it was of Google to support summer days<br /> out on the waterways.</p> <p>So how much has Google coughed up for<br /> access to CART's extensive geographical data of<br /> the canals, bridges, locks and towpaths to add to its<br /> Google Maps system? Er, not a penny.</p> <p>The charity proudly told technology website the<br /> Register that Google was paying for the information<br /> simply by, er, "promoting the waterways", while<br /> promising there would be unspecified "exciting and<br /> beneficial initiatives" to follow. None of which<br /> appears to be the most effective way to use its valuable<br /> taxpayer-funded assets to raise funds to pay for the<br /> massive maintenance backlog on the waterways.</p> <p>" </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7571#post-77838 Thu, 12 Jul 2012 15:38:08 +0000 chdot 77838@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"</p> <p>Google Maps' cycle routes: just how good are they?</p> <p>We took to the streets of London to test the new technology and the results were mixed: not bad – but not great either</p> <p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/bike-blog/2012/jul/12/google-maps-uk-cycle-routes" rel="nofollow">http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/bike-blog/2012/jul/12/google-maps-uk-cycle-routes</a></p> <p>" </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7571#post-77820 Thu, 12 Jul 2012 12:51:46 +0000 cb 77820@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Google already has that problem with 'normal' mapping compared to OSM.</p> <p>For example Google will direct you on the main round past Haymarket Station, whilst on OSM someone has marked that bit of road as being under construction. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7571#post-77811 Thu, 12 Jul 2012 11:55:20 +0000 kaputnik 77811@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Sustrans and quite a few other "organisations" getting very excited on Twitter about how this will be a revolution etc. As if being on google maps somehow makes a cycle lane that you can park in, or gull of potholes, or with a dangerous design, a better / safer / more user-friendly cycle lane.</p> <p>I don't think it's nearly as good as the good work done by cyclestreets / OSM. I see it as a bit of a wasted exercise for google to throw it's billions at this in an effort to map cycling infrastructure that has already been mapped by someone else. Also will they be able to respond to how quickly it changes if they aren't an open-project that anyone can update? A cycle map of central Edinburgh that was created even a year or two ago would be very out of date already. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7571#post-77798 Thu, 12 Jul 2012 10:47:16 +0000 chdot 77798@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"<br /> Carlton Reid (@carltonreid)</p> <p>12/07/2012 09:38</p> <p>Bike Hub planner avoids Old Kent Road: <a href="http://bit.ly/N1QtEC" rel="nofollow">http://bit.ly/N1QtEC</a> RT @realcycling Example of bad Google Bike Route <a href="http://goo.gl/maps/TCSj" rel="nofollow">http://goo.gl/maps/TCSj</a></p> <p>" </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7571#post-77794 Thu, 12 Jul 2012 10:21:05 +0000 lionfish 77794@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@mkns: Yep, OSM/OCM seem to do far better on detail still. But I'm still very happy that google's added a bike button to its map :) - it's just another little change that might make a few people think of cycling who wouldn't have otherwise. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7571#post-77780 Thu, 12 Jul 2012 09:37:18 +0000 SRD 77780@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Still think this is useful as an overlay. I've rarely used the 'route-finding' function on googlemaps, and am not sure I would use it much now either. </p> <p>But we often use googlemaps just to look at stuff with a view to going there, so it would be very handy to be able to see 'ahh there's a cycle path nearby'. </p> <p>Then I suppose we could choose whether to use googlemaps, cyclestreets, or spokes map to plot our route. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7571#post-77766 Wed, 11 Jul 2012 22:48:24 +0000 Kenny 77766@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>A quick look determines that the Google Map varient is missing quite a lot of paths that OSM has, and has the disadvantage that you can't just go add them in.</p> <p>OSM therefore continues to tick the boxes for me in the meantime.</p> <p>Incidentally, Google Maps has had these cycle paths available to some degree for quite some time. You could see them if, for example, you went to plot a route in Garmin Connect's "courses" utility, for example. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7571#post-77673 Wed, 11 Jul 2012 12:31:14 +0000 cb 77673@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"from Shetlandic's blog on here and elsewhere there is apparently a path runs alongside the A90 north of Stonehaven but involves accessing by long stretch of drainage rubble ditch thing."</p> <p><a href="http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5836&amp;page=2#post-75710">This is the post in question from the Mull2Muckle thread</a>.<br /> ("There IS a cycle path by the side of the dual carriageway, on the east side, between Stonehaven and Portlethen")</p> <p>I'm not too clear on where the path is supposed to start.<br /> It must be very new as I can't see any sign of it on Google Streetview, OSM or Sustrans mapping. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7571#post-77665 Wed, 11 Jul 2012 12:07:26 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 77665@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Oh! Interesting, must look out for that next time I'd driving up - that would explain that particular routing! </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7571#post-77664 Wed, 11 Jul 2012 12:05:26 +0000 gembo 77664@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@ Wilnington's Cow from Shetlandic's blog on here and elsewhere there is apparently a path runs alongside the A90 north of Stonehaven but involves accessing by long stretch of drainage rubble ditch thing. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7571#post-77662 Wed, 11 Jul 2012 11:53:27 +0000 chdot 77662@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"this strange break in the Innocent path"</p> <p>At least reporting seems to be quite easy -</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chdot/7548955006/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7247/7548955006_cacb7d6e7c.jpg"></a></p> <p>I sent - "Pin at portal of Innocent Tunnel continues (most of rest already mapped green) to East Parkside". </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7571#post-77661 Wed, 11 Jul 2012 11:53:00 +0000 PS 77661@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Google's algorithms take into account the pavement cyclist's preferred route through St Andrew Square I see... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7571#post-77660 Wed, 11 Jul 2012 11:50:21 +0000 wingpig 77660@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Even Spokes' maps have had some funny ideas about cycle-friendliness of streets, seemingly judging some of them on their relative quietness or least-unpleasant-in-the-general-area-ness rather than the cycle-friendliness of their surfaces.</p> <p>It probably wouldn't have occurred to me to go diagonally across St Andrew's Square on a bike, nor to cut through the gardens next to Waverley Bridge. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7571#post-77659 Wed, 11 Jul 2012 11:46:01 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 77659@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Just routed my house to my mum's house up at Aberdeen for a ride my brother and I have planned, and it puts you on the A90 for about 10-15 miles heading north from Stonehaven. I think I'll be reporting that one as unsafe for cycling! </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7571#post-77658 Wed, 11 Jul 2012 11:39:51 +0000 chdot 77658@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"How's it compare to cycle streets? "</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chdot/7548900664/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7272/7548900664_29edbea476.jpg"></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chdot/7548900834/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8148/7548900834_673337ddfd.jpg"></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chdot/7548914244/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8424/7548914244_317a849252.jpg"></a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7571#post-77657 Wed, 11 Jul 2012 11:19:44 +0000 lionfish 77657@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>That's fantastic! </p> <p>How's it compare to cycle streets? It seems to do quite a good job on the routes I've asked.</p> <p>I think the key needs rephrasing though... Apparently many roads have a 'dedicated lane' (if a piece of road is dedicated to a bike lane, I'd assume it wouldn't have a parking space on it too?). And there seem to be an odd selection of roads considered to be 'bike friendly'. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7571#post-77637 Wed, 11 Jul 2012 10:15:41 +0000 SRD 77637@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>yup. pretty cool indeed. really shows up what a great (if unjoined up) network we have. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7571#post-77630 Wed, 11 Jul 2012 09:40:24 +0000 Lezzles 77630@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Very cool. Wish there was a legend for 'bicycle unfriendly routes' too. My route to work goes past Hillend and after they've messed up the road for the gazzilionth time its definitely gone from cycle friendly to cycle unfriendly. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7571#post-77624 Wed, 11 Jul 2012 08:23:09 +0000 cb 77624@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>It's worth turning on the 'Bicyling' layer in Google Maps to have a look at their data.</p> <p>Quite a lot of paths marked, although there are some odd bits <a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&amp;ll=55.939839,-3.163977&amp;spn=0.009674,0.01929&amp;t=m&amp;z=16&amp;lci=bike">such as this strange break in the Innocent path</a>. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=7571#post-77605 Wed, 11 Jul 2012 01:23:04 +0000 chdot 77605@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><a href="http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/google-maps-bicycling-route-finding-arrives-in-uk/013336" rel="nofollow">http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/google-maps-bicycling-route-finding-arrives-in-uk/013336</a> </p>