You are hereBut how do I get there?
But how do I get there?
Looks like the cats over at A2W are privy to some rather interesting information about a bike route mapping application being tooled up for Austin from a company called Ride The City. They're based out of NYC and started mapping the five boroughs last year, but in 2009 they're expanding out to other bike-friendly cities. Here's what they have to say about it:
Hi. We’ve begun testing a new version of Ride the City, a web-based bicycle routing application. We’d like to roll out Ride the City for the City of Austin and are seeking input. Would you be interested in spreading the news on your blog to help us get more users testing it? We need feedback to fix glitches. The best way to provide feedback is to use the feedback form that’s integrated into the site. It allows us to review the route that was generated along with your comments. You may also email us at info@ridethecity.com with your suggestions. Feel free to pass this along to your constituents.
Known issues we are working on:
- The GIS data we have for Austin did not show which streets have bike lanes and did not include off-street paths. This is obviously a major hurdle we would like to overcome. If you have any contacts who can provide this data, it go a long way toward quickly improving the website’s routing results.- The first and last steps of some routes may give you unexpected results
- We’re working through some bugs in Internet Explorer. Safari, Firefox and Chrome should be fairly stable.
Please remember that this is an experimental version of Ride the City and still undergoing development. Please excuse the occasional uncaught error as we continue to refine the interface, performance, and features.
Here is the URL for testing: http://geos.ridethecity.com/austin
Their Austin-centric version of their mapping program isn't too bad. I threw a couple test routes into it including my work commute, and it did an ok job of mapping it out for me. It rarely nailed my preferred routes, but it came pretty close and for someone who didn't know Austin very well I could see this being an incredibly useful tool. This site and an iphone app would be pretty cool. Go hammer on it and if you find any problems, let them know.
I suspect I'd go for a shorter route over some more busy roads to save time, personally. I imagine you would too.
And hopefully you can average better than 7.5 to 10 mph :)
I think it's a pretty cool application. I wouldn't be surprised if Google uses their infinite funds to purchase the program and add it to their Google Maps.
The thing I thought about it that wasn't really a glitch, but more of a preference, is that when using the Austin City Bike Map, it has a fairly accurate (from what I've experienced) ratings system. I have to commute from Burnet and North Loop to FM 969 (way East MLK) and Decker Ln, which I find at times to be incredibly dangerous. I guess it could be that there's just not a safe way to get here, but I think if it could coincide with the safety ratings with the city's bike map, it could be much more useful.
Just thoughts.
Justin - we actually do use the city's bike route map to guide cyclists. I just turned on some line colors on the site for some better visual feedback: green = high, violet = moderate (and also undesignated streets), red = low (we try to steer cyclists away from these on safe and safer routes).
We just got some additional GIS data that includes paved and unpaved trails around Austin. It’ll take a week or so to get it integrated into the site, and a little longer to make it truly useful. This data also includes the bike/pedestrian bridges over the river — obviously a really key part of the bike network.
One question about the paved and unpaved trails: Are there some that you find especially useful for transportation / quick-and-safe connections between on-street routes?