Jun 7, 2006
Bikely- Bike Routes and Google Maps
The latest use of Google maps has a very cycling specific angle. Bikely is a site that seems to be based in Australia and is taking advantage of Google Maps new expanded mapping the the land down under.
Bikely allows you to create maps of your favorite bike route. The site looks like it was recently released and most of the bike routes seem to be either in Australia or the UK, with a few from the USA. First impressions are that this is a very nice resource, but when you want a bike route, you need a cue sheet that tells you where to turn. Using a Google map course marker does not help much when you are on the road. You would have to dissect the bike route and figure out which road is which. The functionality is very similar to gmaps-pedometer.com.
Gmaps-pedometer would have the upper hand since they offer elevation profiles of a route. This is functionality that Bikely could get at some point, but looking at the forums it seems as though that may be a challenge as the developer Jules is finding his way around the Google Maps API. Bikely does Gmaps one better with friendly URLs that make it easy to bookmark or search for a map.
Overall it is a nice Google Maps Mashup and it will be a site to keep tabs on as the Google API improves and important features such as cue sheets and elevation are added.
http://www.bikely.com/
BTW, if you are ever in the Central New York area check out my club’s website for maps. There are many routes to choose from and CNY has some of the best cycling in the country.
http://onondagacyclingclub.org/
(The OCC site is developed and maintained by Astrochimp Web Development who runs this site)