I bike. Therefore, I am… not a user of google maps to navigate my native city of Amsterdam. Sure, it will plot directions just fine. But will it plot that route via the the street with the best bikepaths or know to take a shortcut through the park? No. Google Maps is for cars.
For biking Amsterdam, there’s no substitute for this handy Bike Route Planner from Routecraft. Comes as an iPhone App as well.
Dear Google, hear my prayer. One way you can help stop global warming is to build support into your maps for low-CO2 emission, carbohydrate-fuelled, single human engine two wheeled transport. I’m sure the good folks at Routecraft would consider an offer.
We travelled there with our three daughters. We found all informations on amsterdam.info. Amsterdam it is a very beautiful town and the museums are great. But with the exchange rate as it is, we found it very expensive. Some museums were closed for refurbishment, but the views of the canals and hi-lights such as the Anne Frank House and the Artis Zoo (an old-fashioned place with a great array of animals kept in somewhat cramped conditions) are very memorable. The food is awful unless you want to spend a great deal of money and there is a cynical attitude to tourists that is very out of date (e.g. tapas marinaded pork was one slice of fried bacon on 1/2 a bread roll). We stayed in the serviceable but expensive Singel Hotel which was okay but its close proximity to a red light area made going out with the children awkward and there really was nothing charming or liberated about hurrying past the ladies in the windows. The same is true of the legal dope selling ‘coffee houses’. The whole bicycle thing is interesting. It is almost, but not quite, the eco-city of the future. Some cyclists are quite anarchic and we spent a fair bit of time dodging pavement mounted bad-tempered riders. Overall verdict was we were glad we’d been but wouldn’t go again as it feels over priced, out of date and sleazy — not the cutting edge hip family friendly town it’s sold as.
Boa tarde, só hoje tomei conhecimento do seu blog por um alerta do Google. Descobri que basicamente possui informações relevantes para minha empresa e tenho adicionado aos favoritos para futuras visitas. Parabéns pelo seu esforço!…