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Anyone Spot The Improvement to the Google Bicycling Map Engine?

Hints:

- the change is extremely helpful when planning a route in urban/suburban areas;

- it's something we've taken for granted (but the engine never would);

- it's about damn time;

 

Anyone?

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No idea what you're talking about. You should just come out with it.

If it's parking lots. Maps has always been able to do that. Though the lots weren't mapped. Now some are.

I recommend staying out of parking lots because of the extremely low visibility a car driver has when backing out their car from a parking stall. In addition, drivers are concentrating on finding the best space and not necessarily looking for things that aren't other cars or people walking to/from cars. 

I've never been routed through a parking lot (with Google Maps) and this is one more reason I will continue to avoid using Google Maps as a bike route-suggester. I don't like being routed through parks, either. If it was possible to toggle these as options, I'd find GMaps more useful. 

Ride The City uses OpenStreetMap data and its own routing engine (well, it's probably based on an existing OSM routing engine). 

I've noticed that it lets me bike the wrong way on one-way streets now. It still always wants me to take the Lake Front Trail though, even if its a few miles out of the way.

Actually, when editing google maps google.com/mapmaker you can chose which directions a bike can travel. Whoever input that street put that bikes could travel a->b and b->a.

Adam Herstein said:

I've noticed that it lets me bike the wrong way on one-way streets now. It still always wants me to take the Lake Front Trail though, even if its a few miles out of the way.

google maps has a school boy crush on the lakefront trail, non of the other routes compare to the lakefront in its eyes.  

Adam Herstein said:

I've noticed that it lets me bike the wrong way on one-way streets now. It still always wants me to take the Lake Front Trail though, even if its a few miles out of the way.

I've sent them route corrections.  When it routed bikes down four blocks of alleys, they responded with a correction.  When it routed bikes the wrong way down a one-way street, they sent a response stating my information couldn't be confirmed.

That thing is worse than useless at suggesting a so called "safe" or "safer" route from my neighborhood (McKinley Park) to the Loop. 

Steven Vance said:

...

Ride The City uses OpenStreetMap data and its own routing engine (well, it's probably based on an existing OSM routing engine). 

I've been routed through a corn field near St. Charles (west of the Fox River), numerous alleys, private factories that cut off roads, a steep hiking trail in Milwaukee, you name it. There should be an separate app built on Google maps that corrects these undesirable (although adventurous) routings when one presses a button twice (point A to point B of the questionable route). Depending on how many people use it, Google maps would correct itself automatically. Kind of a "democratic" app if you will.


I also use a combination of walking directions (as the crow flies),bike directions (more paths = detours), or I just forge my own route depending on my time and distance constraints.

I wonder ifmapmaker has an API?

MagMileMarauder said:

I've been routed through a corn field near St. Charles (west of the Fox River), numerous alleys, private factories that cut off roads, a steep hiking trail in Milwaukee, you name it. There should be an separate app built on Google maps that corrects these undesirable (although adventurous) routings when one presses a button twice (point A to point B of the questionable route). Depending on how many people use it, Google maps would correct itself automatically. Kind of a "democratic" app if you will.


I also use a combination of walking directions (as the crow flies),bike directions (more paths = detours), or I just forge my own route depending on my time and distance constraints.

 Pretty much this, but done on the fly. Given some time, it's possible that mapmaker accomplishes the same goal without the app I suggested:).

Adam "Cezar" Jenkins said:

I wonder ifmapmaker has an API?

MagMileMarauder said:

I've been routed through a corn field near St. Charles (west of the Fox River), numerous alleys, private factories that cut off roads, a steep hiking trail in Milwaukee, you name it. There should be an separate app built on Google maps that corrects these undesirable (although adventurous) routings when one presses a button twice (point A to point B of the questionable route). Depending on how many people use it, Google maps would correct itself automatically. Kind of a "democratic" app if you will.


I also use a combination of walking directions (as the crow flies),bike directions (more paths = detours), or I just forge my own route depending on my time and distance constraints.

Yea, I've used it a ton to correct mistakes and to change the map when things like bridges were out.

MagMileMarauder said:

 Pretty much this, but done on the fly. Given some time, it's possible that mapmaker accomplishes the same goal without the app I suggested:).

Adam "Cezar" Jenkins said:

I wonder if mapmaker has an API?

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