Google Trike

This morning, the google maps team invited us in this blog post to begin nominating off-street locations to be mapped out by the google trike.

You have till October 28th to submit a location at google.com/trike.

My first submission was not bicycle or Colorado related. I nominated the Ocean Beach Pier, up and down which I used to walk almost every day when I lived in San Diego.

bike google

Bike Pittsburgh spots the google trike and comments on plans to start mapping bike trails.

When I'm planning out a ride, I usually compare "Avoid Highways" driving directions to walking directions, and then overlay trailsdenver's trails map and my routes map.

Two suggested routes through two different maps, and then I'm able to plan out a third route through the city's bike infrastructure.

Sometimes, it is time consuming. Other times I throw caution to the wind and set out knowing only that I need to go generally southeast.

But I gotta admit, one-click bike routing will be handy.

Neighborhood bike route

So I was riding my bike down a new road. East 25th Avenue is very wide and pleasant to ride on, and it is home to KJ's Coffee Bar, which is itself the reason that I was on this new road.

What caught my eye were two "Bike Route" signs on either side of Downing.




The reason I made such careful note of these signs is that we (Ladyfriend and myself) got stuck at a prejudiced red light, and I lamented aloud, "This here is a red light that won't change for bicycles, and it's on a designated bike route!"

And as the words were leaving my lips, it occurred to me that 25th is not a designated bike route on any of my maps.

I boggled at that, ran the red light, and continued running my errands. But I kept that in the back of my mind all morning.

Later, after I got back home, I opened up the city bike map (updated 11/21/2003 -- can't wait for the new one, but that's a different story), and sure enough, 25th is not a bike route.

When I zoomed in, though, I saw what I assumed to be railroad tracks running along 25th.




There sure aren't any tracks along that road. The legend, though, clarified the issue.



Neighborhood bike route.

I don't even know what that means.

Obviously then, there is a difference between "grid bike routes", i.e., the ones I have plotted in my google map, and "neighborhood bike routes."

Neighborhood bike routes obviously don't stretch from one end of the city to the other like the grid routes do. They are short routes that either connect grid routes or skirt around within a graticule.

That's my definition. A more official one doesn't seem to exist. The phrase "neighborhood bike route" appears zero times in the Denver Bicycle Master Plan Update 2001 posted on denvergov.org.

I had never noticed these short routes on the map before. Or if I had, I didn't pay them any attention.

But now I'm aware of them, and I'm going to have to incorporate their existence into my ranking system for the PABST project.

Today, while riding on 25th, I was definitely on a designated bike route, and I was stopped by a light that definitely didn't acknowledge bicycles. And that's definitely a problem.

But how big of one?

ghosts in the maps

So here's part of a map of the South Platte River trail, obviously right by the Riverside Cemetery.



Every time I look at that funny little land formation right by the cemetery, I can't help but see a gaping skull head. I chose to see it in my mind as though he's an Elvis rocker skull head, crooning for the deadies.



Thankyaverymuch.

Halloween!

Here's a map post.


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