Being new in Portland, I almost always have to look at a map before going anywhere. I don’t drive, so I’m looking for bicycle and public transportation routes. Trimet does a decent job of making their routes and times available online, although their website could be a bit more friendly to navigate. Google Maps also display public transportation options for Portland, although neither Google nor Timet always chooses the most efficient route (it is sometimes easier to walk a few blocks to a different starting point than to transfer multiple buses, for example).
Mapping bicycle routes presents some unique challenges. One can try to use Google Maps, selecting “Avoid highways” to filter out major roadways forbidden to cyclists, but that does not mean the route will be a good one for cycling. Google Maps does not account well for topography, presence or absence of bicycle lanes, average levels traffic, quality of pavement (more important to cyclists than motorists or even pedestrians), speed limits (lower speeds mean that being hit by a car is less likely to be fatal), bicycle boulevards and cycle paths (closed to cars and thus not viable for a Google Map route), and so on.
There are other websites that try to use Google’s platform for bicycle maps. One is Bycycle.org, which warns users right off the bat:
Disclaimer: As you are riding, please keep in mind that you don’t have to follow the suggested route. It may not be safe at any given point. If you see what looks like an unsafe or undesirable stretch in the suggested route, you can decide to walk, ride on the sidewalk, or go a different way.
Users should independently verify all information presented here. This service is provided AS IS with NO WARRANTY of any kind.
This is fine if you know the area; you can just avoid using those streets that scare you, jostle you, or are just too steep. But for people unfamiliar with an area (all of Portland, or, say, just an unexplored region, maybe NoPo?), it is difficult to “verify all information.”
I have a book of good rides around the Davis, CA area: Cyclists’ Route Atlas; a guide to The Delta, Farm, and Wine Country (Yolo, Solano, Napa, and Lake Counties) by Randall Gray Braun. This is a good book because it pays attention to safety, pavement quality, topography, and distance, and because it presents routes not only by map but though description. Out in the countryside, ‘turn at road 29′ is not always as easy to do as ‘turn at road 29, where there is an old church’ or ‘turn at road 29, which is 4 miles after the small bridge.’ But Braun’s book is both more specific and more difficult to produce than an online map. Braun has several books for routes in different counties, but he only describes “satisfying and adventuresome rides [for] cyclists of all abilities”, which is not the same as ‘how to get to that cafe you’ve heard so much about’ or ‘where your job interview in 45 minutes is located and how to get there in one piece’ or even ‘where the closest grocer is located and how to get there without a massive hill on the way home.’ It is also the product of years of shared experience riding in the area. Braun is personally familiar with these rides, but they are also perennial favorites of the Davis Bike Club and one ride is the basic route of the annual Foxy’s Fall Century.
Google and other internet-mapping sites plot a course from road to road paying attention only to direction of traffic and illegal turns (they shouldn’t send you past a ‘no right turns’ the wrong way down a ‘one way’ street). Maps like Braun’s plat a course based on memory and experience. Maps like the latter are available for Portland: check them out at the BTA’s website. It was one of these maps I used to plan my ride to bonb this past Friday. Unlike a google map, these maps give some of the information cyclists need to choose a good route (listed above). An added bonus is that they can come along on the ride for easy reference if you get a printed copy (the “Portland by Bicycle” map and others are free at the BTA and some bike shops, too). Like Braun’s book, these maps are the product of experience. Currently a nominee for an Alice B. Toeclips award, Bill Barber, is one of those people who put in a lot of time to make these maps (he is also behind bycycle.org).
So, when I got an email about a petition for a ‘Bike There!’ option on google maps, I thought about all of the above and didn’t sign. Not because I don’t support the idea (and maybe I will sign after some more thinking about it), but because I worry that a bike there option will give a sense of security which isn’t deserved. Because for all of Google’s and the petition signers’ best intentions, no such map gives the information that cyclists need to be safe. If there is a good way to combine people’s riding experience with such a map, I would be very supportive and use it often.
