A new online route planner allows cyclists to map their journeys via off-road routes and cycle paths for the first time.
The online system, commissioned by Transport Direct and Cycling England, has been created by CycleCity Guides following months of detailed surveys conducted by a 15-strong team of cycle-mounted mappers.
Martin Whitfield, director of CycleCity Guides, said the new system allows cyclists to plan their route incorporating the Sustrans National Cycle Network, bridleways, canal towpaths and other off-road cycle paths.
The route planner is part of Transport Direct – a multi-modal transport planner incorporating information for journeys by train, car, bus, plane and now bike.
Speaking to road.cc from Bexhill-on-Sea, where he is busy conducting surveys for future versions of the system, Whitfield said: “To get off-road information Transport Direct and Cycle England have been commissioning us to survey the areas and get the non-road areas into the journey planner.
“It’s aimed at two levels - quickest or quietest.”
So far Manchester and Merseyside are up and running on the test site, and all the Cycling England Cycle Cities and Towns, such as Bristol, Brighton and York, have been surveyed and are due to go online at a later date.
After typing in their journey details users of hte site are given turn-by-turn written directions and a map, which can be broken down into detailed sections. This can also be downloaded as a GPX file to be used with a GPS system.
Turn-by-turn GPS instructions are not yet available but Whitfield hopes once the system is more established, this will be an option.
He says: “Hopefully when we have a large dataset of the country one of the big phone manufacturers will design turn-by-turn navigation software because they’ll have to adapt the software they already use for in-car navigation.
“At the moment they have a bike option but it just directs you down a road, nothing specific.”
Get a first look at the test version of the website here. The final version is due to go online later this year.
Radar tells me their closing speed, if they are slowing and how far away. Then I decide to say a prayer. The change of light pattern is incidental.
Quite so, which is why our village 20mph zone covers the whole residential extent. Of course, enforcement is another thing..
£4.
No, that's very doubtful while proper testing would be fully destructive.
In that £1000 exactly scenario, beginners should probably be made aware that pedals will be extra.
What's wrong with dropping down on to the Millenium Bridge, or the swing bridge, then the brief, but satisfying climb back up the hill? #training....
The relatives might of course disagree, but in general I'd countenance a relatively light sentence* if only we could fix it so that those who...
Id forgotten that I got a second hand set of project two's for my getting to work bike over twenty years back.
My bet is that all these tires popping off are from people with bad pressure gauges or they're simply just putting too much air in on purpose. ...
David9694 - you were right! These new autonomous vehicles really are conspiring to run out of control!...