New MapQuest Directions API Built on Open Data. MapQuest Maps - Driving Directions - Map. OpenStreetMap. CycleStreets Brings Bicycle Journey Planning to the UK. Cycling in the UK is not only a popular past time but and also a real commuting choice. The UK has numerous defined cycle routes and many towns and cities have designated cycling lanes and more recently London introduced a cycling scheme fondly referred to as Boris’ Bikes after the current Mayor of London. Since more and more people are using a bicycle as a preferred method of transport, and with cyclists having a different selection of routes, on top of the ordinary street network, than alternative transportation methods, it makes sense for there to be a need for a bicycle journey planning web application and API.
The CycleStreets (CycleStreets API profile) website about page explains the basic premise and the target user: CycleStreets is a UK-wide cycle journey planner system, which lets you plan routes from A to B by bike. It is designed by cyclists, for cyclists, and caters for the needs of both confident and less confident cyclists. Both comments and pings are currently closed. CycleStreets: UK-wide Cycle Journey Planner and Photomap. Dev Blog – It’s Here – Bicycle Routes Using OpenStreetMap Data! We’re pleased to announce our latest service for the MapQuest Open Initiatives project: Bike Routes!
Temperatures are dropping but fair weather cyclists, take your bikes out and enjoy the beautiful cool crisp autumn air! It is never too late in the season to go biking. If you’re already familiar with the Open Directions Service, then you’ll know that this service is based entirely on OpenStreetMap data. You’ll also find that adding bike routes to your directions search is extremely easy to implement.
Simply change routeType=shortest to routeType=bicycle. Here’s a comparison of the results for the same route. Directions using routeType=shortest. Directions using routeType=bicycle. If you’re asking yourself, “what does MapQuest mean when they claim a more bike friendly route?” Elevation chart combining the Bike Routes with the Open Elevation Service. MapQuest Launches International Bike Routing API on Open Data. Online mapping and directions innovator MapQuest has been building new web services on top of data from the publicly-editable OpenStreetMap project since the company announced a new open platform initiative in August.
Now MapQuest has a new addition to its family of open data–based services, bike routes: If you’re asking yourself, “what does MapQuest mean when they claim a more bike friendly route?” Well, we will route you on paths that are not vehicle accessible and also try to not let you do anything illegal, like riding on an interstate : ) On a more serious note, the following list provides some specific rules that are applied to bike routes:Avoids roads where bicycle access in OpenStreetMap is set to falseAvoids all limited access highwaysFavors bike specific paths (road segments that have bicycle access only – no auto or pedestrian)Favors walkways with no auto accessApplies various weights to roads based on the maxspeed tag (ex. favors routes where maxspeed <= 30 mph)