There’s a site with a petition for Google Maps to add a “bike there” option showing directions by bike, including bike lanes. Great idea, though the obstacle to Bike There is finding bike lane data. While we’re at it, how about just a “walk there”?

Google Maps is probably my favorite Google product and the one I use most often (probably more even than search). But it’s always been just a little car-centric. It took years after it originally launched to get transit stations on (mostly because the data providers don’t include transit stations themselves), and while transit lines are drawn in in some international cities like Sydney, you have to go to other mashups like OnNYTurf (NYC) or MetroMapr (DC, Boston, Philly, Chicago) for maps that show subway lines. Why should the route a car takes be in fat yellow lines, but not transitways or bike paths?

Via The WashCycle.

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.