Glasgow’s cyclist are being encouraged to use a new smartphone app to share their journeys with others in a bid to make the cycle network of Scotland’s largest city better.
Routes taken and information regarding average speed and distance and time travelled will be captured by the Glasgow Cycling app and posted online anonymously.
It will appear on the Future City Glasgow open data website, set up after the city beat 29 other cities to win £24 million in funding in a competition run by the government agency InnovateUK.
The information uploaded from the app, which is currently available for Apple’s iOS with an Android version to be launched soon, will enable Glasgow City Council to determine where improvements to the city’s cycle network should be made.
Gordon Matheson, leader of Glasgow City Council, said: "Cycling has huge mental and physical health benefits for individuals as well as environmental advantages for the city.
"The number of cyclists coming into the city has increased drastically but Glasgow City Council is keen to encourage even more people to cycle both for leisure and commuting.
"This new app will provide accurate information which will be extremely helpful when decisions are being made on where and how to upgrade or extend cycling facilities.
“I hope bikers will seize this chance to contribute directly to work to make Glasgow more bike friendly."
Glasgow Bike Station’s Victoria Leiper welcomed the app’s launch, saying:"This is our opportunity, as cycle commuters to shape decision-making.
"It is perhaps the most pro-active thing we can do and I certainly plan to use the app every day to submit my own journeys and to encourage our customers at the Glasgow Bike Station to use it as well."
The app also has the backing of Cycling Scotland whose chief executive, Keith Irving, said: "All councils should be increasing monitoring of cycling levels.
"This initiative by Future City Glasgow combines technology with data to develop information about cycling conditions in Glasgow.
"We hope it will be successful and could feature in a future Cycling Scotland conference as best practice to be copied across the country," he added.
According to Glasgow City Council, over the past seven years the number of trips in and out of the city centre made by bike has trebled to stand at 9,255 a day.
6 thoughts on “Smartphone app launched to help improve Glasgow’s cycle network”
Will it have buttons like
Will it have buttons like “this bit is absolutely shit”, “this is stupidly dangerous”, “I hate these sodding barriers”, “why haven’t the council cleaned this path in years”, “why are there 40 cars parked on this cycle lane”, etc?
I love cycling in Glasgow and
I love cycling in Glasgow and there is a lot of really good infrastructure already in place but a lot of it needs upgrading rather than being added to.
I can think of two major cycle lanes, including the River Clyde cycle path, that just need to be resurfaced.
They could also allow us to
They could also allow us to go round the Commonwealth Games Road Race Circuit without having to go up one way streets.
I think before they build any
I think before they build any more cycle paths they should fix all the roads, .. all you do is spend time duckin ans divin bloody potholes.. the roads are an absolute disgrace
It would appear that one of
It would appear that one of our public servants has probably spent an inordinate sum of public money to gather data that would have easily been available from Strava ?
Nice aspiration, ridiculous execution
Rather than being so
Rather than being so negative, we should see the bigger picture and the value that cycling in general can gain. If the algorithm that gets developed from this app is robust enough to be used in any city environment then it can be rolled out across the country, and possibly further. At least something is being done for the good of cyclists?
I would be interested, however, to hear from the developers as to why they did not use the Strava API to get data, as that sounds obvious without understanding their data requirements. Maybe Strava are missing a trick by not colluding with the governments of countries to develop apps for them?