Bike? Check. Sneakers? Check. Online directions for walking, bi...

Now all you need is a map of the quickest, safest routes for riding around town.

[SDR]

As a driver I think this will be a great idea!!!!. There are many times where bikers must cut lanes in traffic and sometimes have no choice to ride among us. Is very dangerous for them and us being that at times may not be room for both in the streets. It may just give us space to drive safely and bikers to feel safe that they have a better way of using the streets without exposing them to actual dangers that they may not be able to avoid. I am thrilled if they can do it.

[Aurora]

In Minneapolis, a University of Minnesota researcher is setting up a geo-wiki where cyclists can contribute routes. This is a good use of community map-making, as it can be constantly updated to reflect actual conditions, potholes, and construction.

[anonimous]

For george: I dont know if you are being funny, concern or down right ingorant. Your comment does not make sense and if you can't comment on something positive you should keep comments to yourself. That is why the world never changes because of closed minded pepople such as yourself

[Yeahs]

Hopefully they work out the bugs because this is much needed. I wonder if there's any way to use people who are already foot/bike commuters to help plug in local metadata? For people familiar with the mapmyrun.com site, a regular commuter might be able to lay out their usual route and some how add information about different segments of that route. Just a thought. I'm all for moderated user-generated content, especially with projects like this that are still in the experimental phases.

[Yeahs]

Aurora, just saw your comment - that's great! Do you have a link? I'd love to check it out.

[Robbie]

Isn't MapQuest one of those services that always gives you wrong or confusing directions ?
Google maps rock.

[Rick]

Rand McNally and Traffic.com provide better directions than Mapquest.

[Heinie]

Great. Now we'll have bikers riding "no-hands" to fiddle with the GPS device. Another thing to complain about.

[Mat]

It should be noted that the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation publishes a map every year or two, that shows this exact type of thing for the Chicago area - bike trails, roads with bike lanes, roads with lower traffic and/or better margins to make biking safe. Contact them to get one!

[Yeahs]

Heinie wrote:

Great. Now we'll have bikers riding "no-hands" to fiddle with the GPS device. Another thing to complain about.

Why on earth would they need a gps after having used a trip planning website before leaving? Do you actually sound things out before you type them, or is this just verbal diarrhea?

[Heinie]

Yeahs wrote:

<quoted text>
Why on earth would they need a gps after having used a trip planning website before leaving? Do you actually sound things out before you type them, or is this just verbal diarrhea?

uh - yeah?

[kisu]

Hey, this site pretty much does the trick: http://www.mapmyride.com/

[Rob]

Mat wrote:

It should be noted that the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation publishes a map every year or two, that shows this exact type of thing for the Chicago area - bike trails, roads with bike lanes, roads with lower traffic and/or better margins to make biking safe. Contact them to get one!

From personal use I know that this map, for the most part, is horrible and should not be trusted.

[lenny areci]

Why not a separate world for bicyclists!

[Mat]

Rob wrote:

<quoted text>
From personal use I know that this map, for the most part, is horrible and should not be trusted.

I disagree.

It won't be 100% up to date of course, because bike lanes and trails are always changing. But if gives you most of the info you need.

Judge for yourselves, folks. Or just ignore it and take your chances. Your call.

[Dopey]

In Evanston, probably due to the huge volume of bike riders, there are a few quiet roads which seem to be more for bikes than cars (other than the people who live on the street and need to park). I like this idea, it separates the bikes from the cars, which as a bike-rider is great, and means that car drivers don't have to contend with bikes taking up the lane of major streets and slowing down the traffic. Maybe it'll just happen anyway?

[Tim]

Rob wrote:

<quoted text>
From personal use I know that this map, for the most part, is horrible and should not be trusted.

I beg to differ. The IDOT bike maps are horrible. The CBF map is pretty good, in my experience.

[Jean SmilingCoyote]

One problem I have with bike maps of Chicago is that while they show good side streets to use as well as marked bike lanes, they don't show the problem intersections at which, to get from one good segment to another, you have to cross a busy street which has stop signs facing you, but not for the cross traffic. Even bikers who habitually violate stop signs can have to wait a long time for a break in traffic. A truly adequate bicycle-routing map will show you all the traffic controls at intersections, as well as the quality of each segment for biking.

[JKnecht]

Wiki-maps! Wiki-maps! Wiki-maps! The possibilities are endless. Also, as a Chicago newbie who bikes 90% of the time, the Chicago Bicycle Federation's map is an absolute godsend. It ain't perfect, but I never leave home without it.

[JKnecht]

One more thing: There's a petition out there to get Google to add a "Bike There" feature to its maps.

http://www.petitiononline.com/bikether/petiti...