Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Queen City Bike has posted that Google Maps now has directions by bicycle. This is in addition to driving and walking directions. Directions by public transit, promised some time ago, IIRC, have yet to be implemented.
The weird thing about bicycling & especially walking, is that there are a lot more options for those guys than for cars.
Cincinnati has this wild crazy hillside stairway system that good folks fear & loathe. Google sees some of those, but they seem to completely miss cutting through parks. One particular commute I used to take, from sunny Northside to scenic OTR near historic Findlay Market - I would drive, ride or walk exactly the same way. Google recommends I walk or ride a very car centric route with horrible intersections & aesthetically unpleasant areas. Why the hell would I walk through the Dooley Bypass & down Spring Grove Avenue instead of just walking over it to tree lined Central Parkway?
It also doesn't provide grade info important to cyclists.
MapMyRide doesn't provide suggestions (you can look at other people's routes but that only seems useful for recreational purposes). It doesn't seem to import routes saved in Google, either. It does, however have grade info. Anyway, if you gotta go up, you're probably going to go back down again, eventually.
Anyway, if you can glob all this stuff onto a mobile device with a screen reader, blind people can be a bit more empowered, too. I wouldn't be too bold crossing the street with the info, tho.

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