After a long stream of disappointing Google news, it's a relief to learn that they've added a map layer for bicycle directions (maps.google.com/biking). A commute by bike announcement references a user map I didn't know about - James Nordgaard's Twin Cities bike map. (I hadn't visited the map gadgets page for a while, it's worth a look.)
Google also offers a "biking directions gadget" that can be embedded in a web page.
Independently, the MSP Cyclopath.org GeoWiki has been developing very nicely over the past year and now has excellent coverage. I'm hopeful Google will be able to harvest that work even as the GeoWiki benefits from the Google maps.
I've long said that if you had only one question to ask about a community to live in, you should ask about the quality of the local bicycle paths. Minneapolis St. Paul does very well with that question.
Now we need to work on a map that shows what bicycle paths are suitable for inline skating!
See also: Google Maps ‘Bike There’ | Submit your bike data to Google.
PS. I’ve had to repost this several times, the Blogger in Draft editor bugs struck again. I think I’ve repaired it this time.
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