Exciting News from Google Means Big Gains for Trail Finder
Posted by Todd on Mar 10 2010
Tags: Bike Commuting, Trail Finder, Trails
Our office was abuzz this morning with some very exciting news from the Google. Partnering with the Rails to Trails Conservancy, Google Maps now offers biking directions! The announcement has some pretty big implications for our Trail Finder project, all of which will enhance your experience when searching for trails.
With the addition of biking directions to Google Maps’ swiss army knife of tools, users will be able to plot routes that incorporate bike paths, bike lanes, and bike-friendly streets. Bike routes even take into account elevation by routing you around unruly hills! These new features can potentially be integrated into the Trail Finder, which utilizes the Google Maps API.
A blog post from the Rails to Trails Conservancy (RTC) highlights their new partnership:
The release of this long-awaited feature allows Google Maps users to type in their destination and receive directions for the best bicycling route. Previously, Google was able to provide walking, driving or transit directions. Now, RTC is providing its extensive trail-map data to Google Maps for the seamless integration of safe, accessible and fun bicycling routes into daily travel.
Local Motion is exploring ways that we can share our trail data with RTC and Google. Currently a few major paths, like the Island Line, are included in their data. We’d like to see all 113 individual trails from Northwest Vermont added, plus many more that are coming soon as part of our collaborative expansion with three trail groups from across the state.
Curious to see what the buzz is about? Hit ‘Go’ on the gadget below or visit maps.google.com and turn on the Bicycling layer in the More menu.
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2 Responses to “Exciting News from Google Means Big Gains for Trail Finder”
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on 12 Mar 2010 at 2:11 am 1.Ethan Goldman said …
That's excellent; it correctly plotted my personal favorite ride to work: a little out of the way, but mostly on the bike path. I noticed that it includes Church St. as a bike route (though it indicates that cars are excluded). I believe that biking on the pedestrian mall is not allowed; does anyone know if there's a good way to suggest changes to Google?
on 12 Mar 2010 at 5:40 pm 2.localmotion said …
Hey Ethan – There is indeed a way to flag issues like this. In Google Maps, just click on the "Report a problem" link at the bottom of the map or directions. A form will pop up and once submitted, Google will follow-up within a month!
You are correct, biking on Church Street is not allowed, and we recently sent a report to Google about it. Keep an eye out for other problems like this (misspelled street names, paths where cars are allowed when they shouldn't be, suggested bike routes that are dangerous, etc). Reporting them improves the map for everyone!