Yahoo is backing a cycling team. I don’t know why — but they’re doing it. And today their passion got a little boost: from Google.
Google is announcing tomorrow at the National Bike Summit in Washington, DC that Google Maps will now include biking directions in the U.S. Apparently, this was the most-requested feature for the service, as some 57 million Americans ride bikes.
Thousands of miles of bike trails have been added to the maps. And there is also step-by-step directions, much like you can see for driving or public transportation directions in the maps. There is also a new layer that shows bike trails and bike-friendly areas on roads. Yes, it’s a bike-lover’s dream.
To make this new feature happen, Google partnered with Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, a nonprofit group that converts old rail lines into bike trails. The group have given Google information on some 12,000 miles worth of trails in the U.S.
To coincide with the launch, Google also has a cycling contest. To enter, you simply have to tweet with the hashtag #bikewithgoogle. The randomly selected winner will get a voucher for $2,500 to be used at American Cyclery.
I fully expect that hashtag to be dominated by members of Yahoo’s cycling team tomorrow.
Find out more about the new feature in the video below.
hey MG dude…
how much does goog and aapl pay you to talk good of them?
i am sick of your artciles… do u have anything exciting to cover?
they pay me $2,500 to be used at American Cyclery
Ha ha ha… I like this reply XD.
Your infantile hostility is impressive. You should at least charge money for the rimjobs you provide for Google employees.
if you’re sick of his articles why do u read them ? idiot.
He hates it, that’s why he loves to read them.. Makes sense, huh?
As for the post, I wonder when will Bing Maps (aka the silverlight map) have this feature…
For sure, Mr. Lance Armstrong would love this one.
Oh shut up already…
Hey, the comment section is where we get to participate and demonstrate our feelings for the content. Isn’t that Web 2.0 or something?
Voting with my feet isn’t as fun as spewing vitriol. So in the words of…you…”shut up already”.
@don_Vegas: i’m sick of people like you too. The worst point is, i don’t know where to start telling your fault and how to make your realise absurdity of your comment.
@all – the reason I was pissed off at MG was becos y’day we had many goof technology artiles…example HP Slate (which would kick the apple to rotten state with all pads) but still this idiot MG did not cover HP Slate news…
and moreover goog has its own privacy issues… remember Buzz which was going to kill twitter and oh wait…did you remember Wave… what happened to it…. did it sink in Pacific ocean?
I am no fanboy of goog, aapl, msft or yhoo..
i am just an end user…
sorry – typo:
goof should be good :-)
Oh that just makes me giggle
Finally bike routes in google maps!! Does anyone know if Google is planning to release this feature in other countries?
Poor Yahoo, always a step behind the big G.
What is that really weird contraption that they’re driving at 0:09 (in the video)?
That’s a conference bike… http://www.conferencebike.com/
Looking forward to this coming to the UK – it helps pedestrians too…
Awesome ! Can’t wait for it to come to Canada as well.
+1!
Poor Yahoo, always a step behind the big G.
The story is good, the yahoo team is making good progress, but why do you mess them together?
This is AWESOME for us who bike. Thanks MG.
You are so funny!
Why G and Y don’t use the data of opencyclemap??
Wish this could come to asia too.
I wish there was such an application for Tel Aviv too.
What this article has to do with Yahoo? It cheapens your reporting. Well, Internet journalists, I guess.
Google Marine charts! PLEASE! the data is free from NOAA Google Marine charts! Google Marine charts!
looks awesome…didn’t yahoo have its own maps product?
Will this be available on their mobile maps? (for Android in my case) If so, when?
It would be much more useful on my Droid than on my home computer, since the laptop isn’t very practical when I’m riding.
the difference between yahoo and google in a nutshell.
yahoo, does things like a normal business would, ie promoting itself through sponsorship.
google, builds new products which by their very existence brings in new customers.
but their yahoo shareholders arent bothered because over the next 3 months things are looking rosy.
In other news, Yahoo’s Jerry Yang is going back to the family business: Chinese food-to-go.
He will assume dual roles, both as a sauce-mixing apprentice (he’s only good with Mongolian Beef sauce so far) and as a delivery driver on the family 2001 Honda 125 CC moped, specially equipped with a crate to on the on the handle bar to prevent the egg drop soup from dropping. http://www.mopeds.net/assets/images/pizza.jpg
An innovator at heart, Jerry has already had some bright ideas today, officially his first day on the job, during which he engaged in a lengthy discussion with Mai-Ling, a veteran waitress, on the possibility of doing E-FortuneCookies. The idea is to send fortune cookie messages to dinner’s Blackberries, thereby avoiding the need to sweep up crumbs at the end of the night.
Looking forward to seeing the bike routing of Google as an API and then used on sites like http://www.bikemap.net etc.
Next step: “Biking + Public Transit directions”, for cities where you can load your bike onto a bus or rail car.
This is good news for us who use google maps to offer mapping products for cyclist. Using walking directions instead of driving works semi-well for cycling, however having a dedicated and confirmed set of bike routes visually overlaid on map tiles is a big benefit.
The OpenStreetMap project is fantastic, I am surprised they didn’t consult with them for more cycling paths…
I’ve been using http://amarpai.com/bikemap/
… does a good job for San Francisco — it has more flexibility to let u limit the steepness of any route.
So am I to believe that someone will map out a route, print it out, and follow along with the print-out while they’re riding their bike?
Google maps on the iPhone doesn’t support bike directions yet. Translates a link to bike directions into car directions. So I cannot stop and check directions while out riding.
-Sent via TechCrunch App
Probably an important step towards a more bike-friendly future.
A passionate cyclist myself, I checked some directions in Southern California, and was not very impressed with the result.
Radial!