m-bike.org

Category: General bike news

  • Improving the Google Maps bicycling layer

    Last week was the Google Map Maker North American Conference in Montreal.

    What is Map Maker? It’s a web-based tool that lets you modify and add to Google Maps.

    However, unlike Wikipedia, there is a change review process. New users can expect all of their changes to require a review while more experienced users can get some changes published immediately.

    What changes can made? The Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance has added missing pathways for the Detroit RiverWalk, Conner Creek Greenway, and Midtown Loop. All of the City’s bike lanes were added. There were also a number of trails shown for Detroit that simply don’t exist or are sidewalks. Those were removed.

    The Google bicycling layer, which is selectable in Google Maps is now looking fairly accurate. We’re using it on this site with an overlay of bike parking locations.

    Nonetheless, there are some improvements Google could make to improve their bicycle and trail data.

    Here are some suggestions that were shared with their development team at the Montreal Conference.

    • Show unpaved roads differently – This would make it easier for road bikers to determine their routes.
    • Bicycle routing – Similarly, it would be useful if bicyclists could get biking directions using only paved surfaces if they prefer. This would be similar to the motorist directions which let you avoid expressways.
    • Add more trail surface descriptions – The popular crushed limestone surface seen on trails like the Paint Creek isn’t an option when describing a trail surface.
    • Add paved shoulders – Google Maps lets you describe bike lanes on a road, but not paved shoulders that make biking more desirable. For example, Edward Hines Drive should not be shown with bike lanes based on Google’s map policies.
    • Add bike racks – Points of interest can be added to Google Maps, but there’s not a category for bike racks. We heard that it will be available in the future.
    • Add abandoned rail corridors – There isn’t a way of properly showing abandoned rail corridors on the map. This is perhaps more useful for planners than riders, but it would be useful to add.
    • Exporting data – If we put all the bike rack locations in Google Maps, we want to be able to pull it back out. That information is needed for Bicycle Friendly Community applications. It would also be useful if we Google Maps could tell us the miles of bike lanes or trail within a city.

    The U.S. Bicycle Routes were discussed. Those can be added now. For example, we’ve added the Conner Creek Greenway name to its on-road segments, e.g. ?St. Jean.

    There was also a question of bicycles using ferry service. At the time, it was unclear if that was integrated into Google’s bicycle routing software. A different Google development team is responsible for routing (as well as rendering.)

    However, getting bike directions from Detroit to Windsor does take you to the ferry in Algonac. City hall to city hall is 127 miles by bike — or 2 by car.

    Mapping delays

    One word of warning. There is a delay from the time your change is published in Map Maker to the time it shows up on Google Maps. That delay is dependent on many factors, including the size of the change and where the change is made.

    There’s also a delay before changes affect the routing. Google’s bike routing tries taking advantage of trails, bike lanes, and preferred bicycle routes. If you add these features in Map Maker, it can take up to a couple months before the routing routines know about them. The Google engineers said there were working on reducing this delay.

     

  • Windsor’s effort to boost bicycling

    Riding the Riverfront Trail in Windsor

    From bike lanes to riverfront trails, Windsor has had a big head start on Detroit. While that gap has narrowed over the past few years, they’re arguably still ahead. In fact they just got their Bicycle Friendly Community designation last year which Detroit applied for this year.

    This CBC News article gives a glimpse of what they have and what they need to make Windsor more bikeable.

    According to Windsor’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, the city plans to eventually add approximately 46 kilometres of bikeways.

    Every year since 2001, the city has annually spent $400,000 on cycling infrastructure and programs. That doesn’t count the lanes that are added during regular construction.

    The goal of the master plan is to have bike lanes and pathways within a five minute radius of every Windsor neighbourhood. It will add up to 350 km of trails and bike routes when it’s done. The current tally is 177 km.

    For a really interesting and dynamic look at their plans, check out this before-and-after map.

    This is all the more reason why we need a cross-border connection for bicyclists.

    Here is a video from the CBC article, Windsor focuses on commuter cycling, bike paths.

  • Green jobs: American Cycle & Fitness and the Detroit RiverWalk

    If you’re interested in working at a bike shop, American Cycle and Fitness is looking to hire.

    Their job application is on their web site.

    The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy also has a few jobs posted.

  • Detroit Biking and Complete Streets in the news

    10 bicycling myths debunked

    Grist created this list and put a reference to the Detroit Bike City video at the top.

    1. Biking is for elistists

    Yeah, tell that to the good people of Detroit.

    Metro Detroit has elitists. They’re just not in that video.

    Detroit Complete Streets Coalition Makes City Streets Safer For Bikers, Pedestrians

    The Huffington Post Detroit edition had this coverage of Detroit’s Complete Streets efforts.

    It seems like a simple idea: Roadways should be safe for all users, whether they drive, ride public transit, bike or walk. But?Detroit is the 12th-most dangerous metro area for pedestrians in the country, and the region has a long way to go.

    As the article mentions, the Complete Streets ordinance is in the Detroit law department prior to being introduced to City Council. Unlike many of the other communities making a buzz with Complete Street resolutions, Detroit’s should produce results.

    Detroit, Michigan: The Non-Motorized City

    Global Site Plans published this story which provides a very good overview of all that’s going in Detroit.

    Do you ride for recreation, community organizing, or the daily commute? Within the Detroit community, public mobility has developed into two distinct exchanges: the first focused on physical redevelopment and the second, community development. On one hand, urban planners, environmental non-profits, and downtown developers are actively engaged in urban design and adaptive-reuse of existing infrastructure for the use of bicycles. While other Detroiter’s are focused primarily on the bicycle user: from recreation and community health to vocational skills and self-empowerment.

    Compared to other transportation alternatives, bicycles do not require infrastructural changes. Indeed, Detroit has plenty of roads to share. However, road diets and greenway developments certainly make cities more inviting to cyclists.

    The city’s Detroit Works Project reprinted this article as well.

    Complete Streets isn’t anti-car

    The article asks the question, “Will the Motor City ever relinquish its auto-centric ideals for the benefit of pedal power?”

    Is that an accurate question? Perhaps in the suburbs, but not in the city of Detroit.

    To improve biking, does Detroit need to get rid of expressways and convenient parking? It generally doesn’t have congestion. The city was mostly developed during its streetcar heyday and has a decent street grid, which means more intersections and non-expressway speed limits that are rarely above 35 MPH .

    Is the road-dieted Michigan Avenue with bike lanes in Corktown any less ideal for driving? In many ways, adding bike lanes improves safety for everyone, including motorists and pedestrians.

    Complete Streets isn’t anti-car. It’s about balancing needs among all transportation modes while considering how the road design affects the surrounding community.

    Comlete Streets is anti-some-cars, specifically those motorists who ignore traffic laws, speed and imperil others. We’ve seen strong support for Complete Streets helping address that community issue — even in the Motor City.

  • Why m-bike? Post #1,000

    It’s difficult for me to believe that this is post #1,000 on m-bike, but that’s what the software says.

    So, I thought it might be appropriate to provide some background on why this site exists.

    There really were a couple early projects I started that prompted the creation of m-bike.

    Woodward Bike Routes

    Around 1998, I proposed some Woodward bike routes in Oakland County. I developed a mission statement and routes that used the existing side streets paralleling the Woodward.

    The Woodward Avenue Action Association (WA3) was very supportive and hosted meetings with the various municipalities. But, since the routes weren’t directly on Woodward, WA3 couldn’t champion it. It wasn’t within their mission. None of the cities showed much interest and it died.

    However, I’d like to think that this discussion had some influence on future non-motorized planning efforts on the Woodward corridor.

    I-75 Non-motorized Mobility Plan

    This next project started when MDOT was studying the widening of I-75 in South Oakland County. MDOT’s plan ignored how this expansion would affect bicyclists. It also ignored the opportunity to improve bicyclists’ ability to get across I-75, one of the area’s major barriers.

    So, I created a fairly thorough 16 page, full-color plan on how to improve I-75 crossings for cyclists. It proposed some new crossings while improving some existing ones. I had met with MDOT’s project planning consultants ahead of time then submitted the report to them.

    They ignored it.

    When I asked them why this plan resulted in no changes to the project’s final environmental impact statement, the MDOT consultant said it was due to a editing mistake. Seriously.

    The bottom line? It was real easy to ignore the lone wolf bike advocate.

    m-bike begins

    I thought that to be a more success advocate, I should create the appearance of an organization which was larger than one person. At the same time, I needed to spread the bike advocacy gospel to other cyclists and get them involved.

    A web site seemed like the best way of achieving both.

    In June of 2002 I registered m-bike.org, which was a play on M-DOT. The initial web site was up in August.

    You may have noticed that I still write posts as if m-bike is a big advocacy organization, hence the “we” instead of “I”. Is that still necessary or just confusing?

    The reality is its just me writing posts whenever I get a chance.

    The future of m-bike

    The web site design is really tired but any big updates are on hold as the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan develops a web site with overlapping interests. I’ve been working with them on it for a number of years now and it’s on the verge of launching. I am hopeful they can provide much of the functionality that is missing from this site.

    I have had some discussions with others about making m-bike into a full-blown Metro Detroit bike advocacy, membership-based organization. Except for trails and what’s happening in Detroit, there are practically no organizations successfully advocating for better biking.

    That said, I don’t see m-bike filling that void any time soon.

    However, what is happening is the Detroit Greenways Coalition is becoming a non-profit organization, but their scope would limited to the cities of Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park. Perhaps the Coalition’s service area would eventually expand to include other suburbs.

    We’ll likely know more by post #2000.