Apps for Bicycle Directions

#1

Post by jakecopp » Thu, Jul 30, 2020, 2:09 PM UTC

Apps for Bicycle Directions
jakecoppinger.blog

Re: Apps for Bicycle Directions

#2

Post by jakecopp » Thu, Jul 30, 2020, 2:19 PM UTC

I wrote this blog post as I'm often asked for a safe cycle route somewhere - hopefully you find this useful :D

Re: Apps for Bicycle Directions

#3

Post by blueski » Thu, Jul 30, 2020, 3:14 PM UTC

Any suggestions for ebike-friendly bike directions? Less need to route around hills and more accurate journey time estimates would be useful.

Re: Apps for Bicycle Directions

#4

Post by kemayo » Thu, Jul 30, 2020, 3:14 PM UTC

Soon to be also-available is bicycling directions in Apple Maps: https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/cycling-directions-apple-ma...

(But not everywhere yet. I'm in the midwest, and the beta just says cycling directions aren't available in my area.)

Re: Apps for Bicycle Directions

#5

Post by nikita » Thu, Jul 30, 2020, 3:18 PM UTC

I’ve been looking for a good app like this for a while. When commuting in a new area or going on ride such as https://rootsrated.com/san-francisco-ca/cycling/paradise-loo... it’s great to have turn by turn direction which gets on your bike computer and ALSO on your watch. I’m looking forward to apple maps, however I doubt it would be supporting bike loop routes such as paradise loop.

Re: Apps for Bicycle Directions

#6

Post by johnnybaptist » Thu, Jul 30, 2020, 3:20 PM UTC

I cycle daily in NYC and have used both Citymapper and Google Maps

Google Maps' cycling instructions route me onto streets with bicycle lanes. I haven't had any problems with it and I think it's a fine option. Maybe because NYC is the type of location google has excellent data on.

Citymapper is also good. The fastest vs quietest distinction doesn't often yield much of a change in route. What I like about citymapper is you can distinguish between riding a personal bike, or riding a bike rental. Sometimes when bringing a friend along, they rent a citibike, and it's nice to have the option for directions to take you to a docking station close to the destination.

Re: Apps for Bicycle Directions

#7

Post by qnsi » Thu, Jul 30, 2020, 3:20 PM UTC

jakecopp wrote: post #2

I wrote this blog post as I'm often asked for a safe cycle route somewhere - hopefully you find this useful :D

I was so happy to read about citymapper. I was thinking I finally found cool app, one that lets me browse by safest path.

sadly its not available in my city Warsaw, Poland :(

Thank you for taking time

Re: Apps for Bicycle Directions

#8

Post by ape4 » Thu, Jul 30, 2020, 3:23 PM UTC

Every app I have tried is inadequate. Sometimes the best route is going the wrong way on a quite residential street - of course apps don't condone this. Google Maps lets you plan the route on your larger desktop screen then send to phone - nice feature - but then its planning is weird - even when I ask for a bike route and turn on the bike layer it doesn't follow it. It needs options to let you go bike paths vs distance - for me bike paths is more important.

Re: Apps for Bicycle Directions

#9

Post by sriacha » Thu, Jul 30, 2020, 3:25 PM UTC

jakecopp wrote: post #2

I wrote this blog post as I'm often asked for a safe cycle route somewhere - hopefully you find this useful :D

Thanks for the post. I'm a big osmand user, but have never tried BRouter. Is it significantly better than the built in routing?

Re: Apps for Bicycle Directions

#10

Post by acwan93 » Thu, Jul 30, 2020, 3:28 PM UTC

kemayo wrote: post #4

Soon to be also-available is bicycling directions in Apple Maps: https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/cycling-directions-apple-ma... (But not everywhere yet. I'm in the midwest, and the beta just says cycling directions aren't available in my area.)

Same here in Los Angeles. I think only the Bay Area is available during the beta, and then the other cities will rollout in the fall when iOS 14 GMs.