Vote for Google 'Bike-There' option...
Thread started by
williambirnerbeckley at 03.5.08 - 1:53 pm
Howdy from Portland,
I just heard about a petition to encourage Google to include a “bike there” option in addition to the already-existing “drive there” and “take public transit” options.
For those of you who know how a petition works... sign this mo-fo, otherwise go back to bed!
Thanks and I hope you took your bike today!
William
Vote Here:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/bikether/petition.html
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Name City, State, Country Comments
14907. Edward alvarez pasadena, ca we really need this option for people who only use a bike to get around, thanks
14906. Margaret Heath Albuquerque, NM
14905. Chris Adams Saybrook, CT
14904. Katherine Porter Woodstock, VT 05091
14903. Alan Davis San Clemente, CA, USA ride your bike!
14902. gerald sylvester mountain view, ca
14901. justin kleiner san francisco, ca, usa
14900. James Ehlers Bothell, WA, Snohomish
14899. Stephanie Lasker
14898. Ananth AZ
14897. Petr Pokorny Prague, Czech republic
14896. Gina Faiola san francisco, CA
14895. Scott Ericksen San Antonio, Texas
14894. brian willmont
14893. Andrew Zalasin NY NY Please do this
eddieboyinla03.5.08 - 2:02 pm
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why not take an extra 30 seconds and write an email to google directly instead of hyping up yet another online petition nobody will ever read? they're dropping literally billions of dollars on green energy philantropy
try renewables@google.com and press@google.com. there's also a google maps google group the the maps developers actually read.
stevestevesteve03.5.08 - 2:39 pm
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I'll send this to Ephemerae (Birthday boy) who works for "G" and see what he can do!
stevo403.5.08 - 3:01 pm
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What exactly would a "bike there" option entail, apart from taking the presence of a bike lane into account? I don't know anybody who would change his or her route based on whether a bike lane exists, especially considering how many other criteria there are for choosing a route
and considering how craptacular the average bike lane is.
PC03.6.08 - 2:21 am
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no, however, it could give you directions that, oh i dunno, don't use freeways, maybe allow for easier (less hills) or more direct rounting, maybe use more neighborhoods (somehting google directions pretty much don't do until you get to the neighborhood you're going. the google mapping program has some pretty interesting features, and could probably be set up to do these type of things very easily.
FuzzBeast03.6.08 - 2:35 am
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I just don't trust a global mapping project like Google Maps to be able to do this at a local scale (which it would have to be) and make it useful.
To come up with a bike-friendly route between any two points is way more complicated than driving directions. Topography and freeways are easy enough to account for in the software, but you also need to know which streets have potholes, which ones have lots of speeding drivers, which ones have wheel-grabbing tracks (including disused tracks), etc.
I suppose it's possible that Google would hire a bunch of people to canvas cyclists in all major cities for this information and incorporate it into their maps for a truly useful "Bike There" feature, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it. Or the D-Bird. Or the Blue-Bird.
PC03.6.08 - 2:58 am
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@pc
-I totally hear you aloud on this one.
Seems like all these new, mapping and GPS programs are all tailored towards tourists in Minivans/SUV's, and traveling execs in flashy, rentals.
Yet cyclists and, truckers are totally cut out of the equation.
While cyclists are bent(no pun) on finding a safe, and easy route to get to someplace, truckers have to locate a safe, and easy route to keep their ass from getting a ticket.
Perhaps I should start pimping this idea on the classadrivers.com forum.
Bring the truckers and the cyclists of America together to bring this pig-ignorance to attention.
Especially when you come up to a bridge that was once 15ft, but is now the same height as your 13'6 trailer.
Due to paving over the road and not compensating for height-loss.
But that's another argument.
bentstrider03.6.08 - 5:34 am
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My TomTom GPS has several routing options such as:
- Fastest (that usually means freeways)
- Most Direct
- Avoid Freeways
- By Bike
It doesn't work so well in the bike option (LA to San Diengo doesn't compute) but it's OK for inside the city.
The way the bike option is supposed to work is to take the major bike boulevards (see LA bike map) and treat them as bike "freeways" giving them preference over other routes. It's just another layer of data to take into account.
As for adverse road conditions that's a problem for routing for cars too and there is no easy solution other than planting some tracking device on every vehicle and charting how fast they move through various routes in real time.
marino03.6.08 - 6:57 am
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PC and Bents, I don't trust a centralized agency to do that either. So here's my suggestion, put in the comments of my signature of the petition:
Use open Wiki-like methods to gather road metrics (bike safety, rider experience level, city maintenance needed, troublespots, etc)
OverTheHill03.6.08 - 6:57 am
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Or you could just click "Aviod Highways"...
Purp03.6.08 - 9:45 am
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Google could implement an open comments section from cyclists that would update road conditions and then therefore auto-update a typical bike route.
They could survey major roads or riders could submit self road surveys of certain mile lengths which would then form these 'common' routes by certain criteria.
My $0.02.
jchungerford03.6.08 - 9:52 am
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Purp has a point there, no? I guess it could be more advanced than that.
Joe Borfo03.6.08 - 1:09 pm
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I can't talk about secret projects, especially those involving nuclear-powered spy satellites.
ephemerae03.15.08 - 9:38 am
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