bikes | No Passengers

Tag Archives: bikes

by Brian Fitzgerald | April 7, 2009

One thing Google Maps still can’t do

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.

2 Comments

Filed under Amsterdam, Bicycles, Maps and Mapping

Tagged as Amsterdam, bikes, maps

by Brian Fitzgerald | January 16, 2009

Instant bike lane!

Once again, Boing Boing earns its monniker as a “Directory of Wonderful Things.” Behold, the bike-light that paints a laser-lit bike-lane on the road around you, a concept by Alex Tee and Evan Gant.

Of course, this would be redundant in most of Amsterdam, where more than 400 Kilometers (249 miles) of the city’s roads have wide, conveniently marked bike lanes already installed. And it wouldn’t be all that much use in these, the 11 most bike-friendly cities.

But for those have-not streets, and have-not cities, this is brilliant. Now, when do we get the activist version, which leaves a painted version behind?