West to Percy

Google Maps, The "Bike There" Option, and You.

For those of you who missed the recent post on this. Google has been widespread with new mapping vehicles (Street View Trike). Good for Google, but better for us. Not only is Google showing the international cycling community some serious love, they are updating the accessibility of their entire mapping system. Can someone say, "Upgrade!"? Google is in the process of mapping areas which cannot be reached by car. They are also asking the public to help. Google is currently (until an Oct 28th cutoff date) accepting suggestions of where to send the SVT (Street View Trike). Let's do what we can and get the Middle Tennessee Greenways, The Four Natchez Trails, and Local Park trails on the list. This not only will help us get Nashville and the Greater Nashville area more accessible to cyclists unfamiliar with the area, but also (I think) provide us with an awesome "bike there" option which might (fingers crossed) take into account elevation. This will add a fourth option to "the quickest route" in addition to walking (shortest distance), fastest w/highways, and fastest w/out highways. I don't know about you but i personally would like to know if I'm going the right way w/out having to ask Whit or Mike Crouch. So let's get on the horn. Contact Google and suggest locations for the SVT to ride and document (most importantly the Greenways). Let's make Nashville, Tennessee, America, and the world a better place to cycle. Thanks.

Google Announces Plan for “Bike There” Option

In a post on the Google Earth and Maps team blog, the ubiquitous company revealed plans to add the long awaited “Bike There” option to their maps.

They say that by integrating this [new] information, and working with specialized data sources like the USDA Forest Service’s Forest Boundaries and the US Geological Survey’s National Hydrography Dataset, we’ve been able to expand and improve features in our maps like parks and water bodies.

Read more at www.Bike-PGH.org.

From Urban Velo

Nashville Bike Map

Yesterday's Greenway ride had me checking out the Music City Moves web site, and i came across this map. Granted, most of us don't give a f*ck about a bike lane, but it thought it would still be a good post.