14 DAY TRIAL // Google recently added bike directions to its Google Maps app. The feature, available in the US, now has data for 80 more cities than it did at launch, thanks to thousands of additions from users.
"Through our partnership with the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, we had detailed bike lane and trail information for 150 cities; and for the rest of the country, we recommended routes based on other data such as the size of the road, speed of traffic and hill steepness," Dave Barth, Product Manager at Google, wrote.
The feature proved useful enough, but for the areas without actual bike trail data, relying on the algorithm alone didn't provide nearly enough info. What's more, the method was prone to errors.
But, as Google often does, the bike trails feature was launched in beta with the hope that more and better data will be added in time. Since it enabled users to provide feedback, either report problems or suggest better or unknown routes, Google was able to expand coverage quickly.
"More than 10,000 people have submitted about 25,000 suggestions for improvements to our bike maps. With their help, we’ve added bike lane and trail data for an additional 80 cities since our initial launch," announced.
"It’s like having 10,000 new members of our bike maps team, contributing their time and energy to make Google Maps more useful for everyone," he added.
Biking is a popular alternative in crowded cities, not only for the green-conscious. In some places it just makes sense. But since the best route by bike is almost never the same as the best route by car, or by foot for that matter, a dedicated mapping solution was needed.
Since March, US Google Maps users have been able to get directions specifically for bicycling, along with the regular choices. At the time, the feature was limited to just some cities and regions as Google didn't have enough data to cover the rest.
With the help of bikers everywhere, the coverage was greatly extended and improved. However, biking directions are still in beta and there's no word on availability in other countries.