Google Maps adding UK Cycle Routes...
felix.london
Posts: 4,067
about time!
...shame I'm not in the UK any more
http://thenextweb.com/uk/2012/07/11/google-teams-up-with-sustrans-to-provide-safer-cycling-routes-for-google-maps-users-in-the-uk/
...shame I'm not in the UK any more
http://thenextweb.com/uk/2012/07/11/google-teams-up-with-sustrans-to-provide-safer-cycling-routes-for-google-maps-users-in-the-uk/
"Why have that extra tooth if you're not using it?" - Brian Lopes
Votec V.SX Enduro 'Alpine Thug' 2012/2013 build
Trek Session 8
Votec V.SX Enduro 'Alpine Thug' 2012/2013 build
Trek Session 8
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Comments
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Hmm, A to B via cycle lanes. Scary prospect in some cases.0
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What the hell is wrong with that cyclist's legs!? Do they thing our thighs are jointed or something?0
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I like it that you can clearly see all the sustrans routes when you click on the bike icon,show up nicely in a strong bold green line. Also states it's in beta and invites updates so will probably end up rivalling Open Source Maps in time.Vaaru Titanium Sram Red eTap
Moda Chord with drop bars and Rival shifters - winter/do it all bike
Orbea Rise0 -
Really? I thought she's cute.bluechair84 wrote:What the hell is wrong with that cyclist's legs!? Do they thing our thighs are jointed or something?
Why?bails87 wrote:It's.....not great. If I followed it for my commute I reckon I'd be dead within a week.
(By the way, that's a genuine question, not a sarcy comment. The Sustrans routes near where I live and work are really handy, and suitable even for families)0 -
I agree, she is a cutie... but I hope she isn't the silhouette for this cos... I can't figure out how you'd ride with those legs.
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Well, combining Bails fear of Sustrans, and your perceptive notice of the large posterior... she shat herself in a massive way using Google to commute to work?YeehaaMcgee wrote:Maybe she has normal legs, but a load of "junk in da trunk".
Yoonowhamsaying, y'all?0 -
YeehaaMcgee wrote:
Why?.bails87 wrote:It's.....not great. If I followed it for my commute I reckon I'd be dead within a week.
It takes me on the A46, go into streetview here. It's a 3 lane, 70mph dual carriageway with no hard shoulder. There's a perfectly good 40mph country/suburban road that runs almost parallel, but the mapping took me the marginally shorter way on the A46. It also picked up a few hundred yards of footpath as well as cyclepath. :?
I have no problem with Sustrans, just in case they're reading this
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Lad in the vid must be gay, far too much thought gone into all that..
Whats wrong with chip shop then hotel??0 -
Fascinating. I guess the Sustrans routes aren't as well thought out as I had assumed then.bails87 wrote:YeehaaMcgee wrote:
Why?.bails87 wrote:It's.....not great. If I followed it for my commute I reckon I'd be dead within a week.
It takes me on the A46, go into streetview here. It's a 3 lane, 70mph dual carriageway with no hard shoulder. There's a perfectly good 40mph country/suburban road that runs almost parallel, but the mapping took me the marginally shorter way on the A46. It also picked up a few hundred yards of footpath as well as cyclepath. :?
I have no problem with Sustrans, just in case they're reading this0 -
I assume that the A46 isn't associated with any Sustrans route, in fact on the sliproads there are signs advising cyclists to take an alternative route....which is part of the National Cycle Network . Google's routing must have just decided that it's the quickest way between two points.
Cyclestreets.net is better IME. In any case, something like this (for any sane person) should be a starting point, rather than a definitive route planner.0 -
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I would have thought so. I guess it sticks to cyclepaths where it can, then tries to take bike friendlier routes elsewhere.YeehaaMcgee wrote:Oh right, so it's the Google thing that's causing issue, not Sustrans?
But you'd think it would know that the A46 was a 70mph limit (cars routinely do 90mph+, it's a motorway in all but name), it would know that it was a dual carriageway (it must do for the mapping,right?), and you'd hope would know that there was a NCN route doing a parallel journey down slower/quieter roads.0 -
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I must admit I did it for my commute (sleepy Sussex village to the City), and it sent me up a dual carriageway with no cycle path, then a right turn off it (fun at rush hour), up a real swine of a climb, avoiding a quieter and nicer one, then along another dual carriageway, into the most absurd back lanes and completely avoiding CS7 which goes right the way into the city.
It manages to add 4 miles over my route too, even on the really zoomed out view it looks more circuitous, and yet it manages to take in all the busy bits I purposely avoid. :?
Still, it's a start!0 -
Just tried my commute, and it takes more or less the route I take - except that I take a detour to extend the route, and to avoid traffic-heavy roads.
EDIT:
I takre that back, if I try and put my detour into google maps, then for some inexplicable reason, it diverts me from the Sustrans cycle path, right onto a very busy main road that runs absolutely parallell to it for about a quarter of a mile, then back onto the cycle path
FAIL!0 -
One route near me tries to go through a brick wall into Brookwood Cemetary then through the cemetary which I think bikes are frowned upon, and further along through the middle of the danger area of Pirbright ranges. Yet round Tunnel Hill where there are plenty of nice trails it refuses to go saying they are restricted. Not that it knows any trails, only fireroads.
Has no knowledge of tow paths, even where they are official cycle routes.0 -
The way you ride I'd say it's prescient and just trying to save the taxpayer the ambulance bill.deadkenny wrote:One route near me tries to go through a brick wall into Brookwood Cemetary then through the cemetary which I think bikes are frowned upon,I don't do smileys.
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Parktools0 -
Does anyone else find cycle paths/lanes extremely frustrating? I.e. they don't allow flow through junctions etc, randomly start and stop. I don't use them personally. It's as if they're designed for pedestrians rather than moving vehicles. The ones that are the main problem are where half of the pavement is a cycle lane.
I'm comparing the UK ones with ones I recently saw in Berlin, much more efficient. Smooth transitions at junctions on and off the pavements, then marked lanes across junctions etc. Much better than the half baked attempt we seem to have here
P.s. cyclestreets.net looks a lot better, thanks for the tip0 -
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YeehaaMcgee wrote:there's no, or crap options for walkers and cyclists.
Definitely. On my non-death way to work I cross a dual carriageway. There are 5 lanes of traffic crossing 5 lanes and seemingly dozens of different light combinations to let traffic from the DC coming each way turn left, right or go straight on in turn, followed by the traffic on the minor road going left, right and straight on.
The pavement of the "minor" road is a shared use path, but there's no pedestrian/bike crossing to get across the massive junction. I find it easier, quicker and safer to just ride on the road, that way when I'm going through the junction it's because I've got a green light, so I know everyone else has got a red light. Trying to cross the road when you've got to keep an eye on a load of different streams of traffic, plus the lights themselves is a nightmare.
And dmorton: yes, I agree. they almost always give priority to the minor roads that join them, rather than being treated like a major road. People park on them. People drive off driveways without looking. They're quite often full of obstacles:
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YeehaaMcgee wrote:Fascinating. I guess the Sustrans routes aren't as well thought out as I had assumed then.
I think the reason is that the Sustrans routes are not originally captured using Google mapping. Therefore when a process is applied to the routes to 'map' them to Google some discrepancies occur. It usually needs a person to run through them all and apply some logic, but unfortunately sometimes that requires some local knowledge too.2011 Carrera Fury
Earn cashback at CRC, Wiggle, Evans, Rutland, Hargroves, Halfords, and more at Quidco0 -
bails87 wrote:And dmorton: yes, I agree. they almost always give priority to the minor roads that join them, rather than being treated like a major road. People park on them. People drive off driveways without looking. They're quite often full of obstacles:
This is exactly the half arsed sh*te that I was talking about!
I can understand how it occurs though, having once been involved with the council in trying to get a skate park built many years ago. Their aim seemed not to actually build one that would meet peoples needs but rather be seen to be doing "something" so people moaned less.... This is what I believe cycle lanes have become0 -
bails87 wrote:
Now that's a commuter bike if ever I saw one!
Full on triple crown and 203 discs for the rough and tough of the inner city - I think the jacket is from Fox's new DH range though.Closet jockey wheel pimp whore.0 -
finally.0
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I thought that when I chose the pic, I couldn't be arsssed to trawl through here for a more appropriate bikepaul.skibum wrote:bails87 wrote:
Now that's a commuter bike if ever I saw one!
Full on triple crown and 203 discs for the rough and tough of the inner city - I think the jacket is from Fox's new DH range though. Looks like a Spesh Enduro to me. 0 -
bails87 wrote:YeehaaMcgee wrote:there's no, or crap options for walkers and cyclists.
Definitely. On my non-death way to work
Bails my dear, at the minute there is no way for you to cycle that is safe it would seem0 -
Gazlar wrote:bails87 wrote:YeehaaMcgee wrote:there's no, or crap options for walkers and cyclists.
Definitely. On my non-death way to work
Bails my dear, at the minute there is no way for you to cycle that is safe it would seem
I said "non-death" not "safe".
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