![Cincinnati Bike Maps 04](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Cincinnati_Bike_Maps_04.jpg)
A bicycle map or bike map is a map designed specifically for bicyclists. Bike maps often include features not on general purpose
street maps such as
bike lane
Bike lanes (US) or cycle lanes (UK) are types of bikeways (cycleways) with lanes on the roadway for cyclists only. In the United Kingdom, an on-road cycle-lane can be firmly restricted to cycles (marked with a solid white line, entry by motor v ...
s,
bike path
A bike path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses ''shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or "Class III bikewa ...
s,
bike route
Cycling infrastructure is all infrastructure cyclists are allowed to use. Bikeways include bike paths, bike lanes, cycle tracks, rail trails and, where permitted, sidewalks. Roads used by Motor vehicle, motorists are also cycling infrastructu ...
s,
bike shops, topographical features like major hills, etc. Earlier in the 20th century, bike maps tended to focus on showing pavement quality.
History
The invention of the
safety bicycle
A safety bicycle (or simply a safety) is a type of bicycle that became very popular beginning in the late 1880s as an alternative to the penny-farthing ("ordinary") and is now the most common type of bicycle. Early bicycles of this style were kno ...
brought about the first
bike boom
The bike boom or bicycle craze is any of several specific historic periods marked by increased bicycle enthusiasm, popularity, and sales.
Prominent examples include 1819 and 1868, as well as the decades of the 1890s and 1970sthe latter espec ...
in the late 19th century.
Street maps available prior to this time period showed roads, but often emphasized
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
lines and often did not give cyclists information of particular relevance to their mode of travel, e.g. pavement quality,
hill
A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct Summit (topography), summit.
Terminology
The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally con ...
s, etc. Most bike maps of this period emphasise pavement quality, and served a dual role. On one hand they advised cyclists about roads good for cycling, and on the other they directly if implicitly criticized the agencies responsible for the maintenance of public roads as part of an
organized campaign to improve pavements. Many of these maps, in America at least, were produced by a single organization, the
League of American Wheelmen
The League of American Bicyclists (LAB), officially the League of American Wheelmen, is a membership organization that promotes cycling for fun, fitness and transportation through advocacy and education.
A Section 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization ...
.
Early bicycling maps were made by drawing bicycling routes following mule and foot paths. In the early 20th century, the
motorcar
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarded as t ...
quickly supplanted most travel by bicycle and bike maps, like the bicycle itself largely stagnated for several decades.
![Denver bicycle map - DPLA - ca4d95ee97434bc4a5738bac2271dce7](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Denver_bicycle_map_-_DPLA_-_ca4d95ee97434bc4a5738bac2271dce7.jpg)
The 1970s bike boom led to the creation once again of cycling maps for the general public, but in the meantime, the nature of most cycling trips had shifted rather dramatically as cities were being reorganized around cars.
Many maps of this period emphasised the recreational dimension of cycling, highlighting recreational routes and a limited range of off-street trails.
![NPS national-mall-bike-map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/NPS_national-mall-bike-map.jpg)
Today, many
cities
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
or local
advocacy group
Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the developm ...
s produce bicycle maps. Often this still takes the form of a full-size paper map, but increasingly, people seem to be relying on online maps and automatic
wayfinding
Wayfinding (or way-finding) encompasses all of the ways in which people (and animals) orient themselves in physical space and navigate from place to place.
Wayfinding software is a self-service computer program that helps users to find a location, ...
applications. Numerous such applications have been developed around the needs and interests of cyclists.
Bike routing webmaps
![OpenStreetMap bike layer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/OpenStreetMap_bike_layer.png)
A great variety of web-based
route planning
A journey planner, trip planner, or route planner is a specialized search engine used to find an optimal means of travelling between two or more given locations, sometimes using more than one transport mode. Searches may be optimized on differen ...
tools have been developed in the last couple of decades. In recent years, these have become increasingly multi-modal in nature, offering directions for cyclists, pedestrians, transit users, etc. Routing instructions for cyclists are now included in major
web map services
Web most often refers to:
* Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal
* World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system
Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to:
Computing
* WEB, a literate programming system created by ...
such as
Google Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panoramic views of streets ( Street View), real-time traffic conditions, and rou ...
, and
OpenStreetMap
OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a free, open geographic database updated and maintained by a community of volunteers via open collaboration. Contributors collect data from surveys, trace from aerial imagery and also import from other freely licensed g ...
, but not in other major competitors such as
Bing maps
Bing Maps (previously Live Search Maps, Windows Live Maps, Windows Live Local, and MSN Virtual Earth) is a web mapping service provided as a part of Microsoft's Bing suite of search engines and powered by the Bing Maps Platform framework. Since 20 ...
,
Apple Maps
Apple Maps is a web mapping service developed by Apple Inc. The default map system of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS, it provides directions and estimated times of arrival for driving, walking, cycling, and public transportation navigation. ...
, etc.
Web-based mapping efforts have often been hampered by the lack of detailed data on street conditions of interest to cyclists, and even of basic infrastructure like bikeways and lanes. One very promising development in this area is the rapid growth of OpenStreetMap. Many of the first OpenStreetMap contributors were avid cyclists and OpenStreetMap now offers some of the most detailed data on bike routes and bike infrastructure in much of the world. Open-source tools like
OpenTripPlanner and the
Open Source Routing Machine have developed fairly advanced routing algorithms that can make use of OpenStreetMap data to offer turn by turn directions for cyclists.
Bicycle suitability indices
In the later half of the 20th century, urban planners and transportation engineers began to see a need to establishing suitability criteria indices specifically designed for bicyclists. According to research done at the
Texas Department of Transportation
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT ) is a government agency in the American state of Texas. Though the public face of the agency is generally associated with the construction and maintenance of the state's immense state highway system ...
, two main areas of criteria should be considered when developing maps to show bicycle routes: Stress level criteria are based upon vehicle speed and volume of the curb lane (such as a
wide outside lane A wide outside lane (WOL) or wide curb lane (WCL) is an outermost lane of a roadway that is wide enough to be safely shared side by side by a bicycle and a wider motor vehicle at the same time. The terms are used by cyclists and bicycle transporta ...
). Roadway conditions, also called BLOS or Bicycle Level of Service, consider variables dealing with speed limit, pavement condition, and location factors.
[Turner Shawn M, Shafer C. Scott, Stewart William P. . Bicycle Suitability Criteria for Texas Roadways. Transportation Research Report, College Station, TX: Texas Transportation Institute, 1997.]
See also
*
Bicycle transportation planning and engineering
Bicycle transportation planning and engineering are the disciplines related to transportation engineering and transportation planning concerning bicycles as a mode of transport and the concomitant study, design and implementation of cycling infr ...
*
Street map
*
Transit map
A transit map is a topological map in the form of a schematic diagram used to illustrate the routes and stations within a public transport system—whether this be bus, tram, rapid transit, commuter rail or ferry routes. The main components ar ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bicycle suitability map
Navigation maps