Could Google maps bicycling directions work for Jersey?
I was recently reading that Google Google made an announcement at the national
bike summit in Washington DC. The long awaited “Bike There” option has been added to their options for route types in USA. The dropdown next to Google Maps “Get Directions” button now has “Bicycling” as the fourth option following “By car”, “By public transit” and”Walking”.
This is a great feature and has obviously involved some considerable effort on Google’s part but could this type technology benefit the visitors to Jersey.
The current option for visitors is a selection of PDF’s available from a number of sources and in some cases a set of text based instructions for each route.
As an alternative I made use of Google Earth and Google Maps I was able to quickly create a sample cycle route. Points of interest, images, links and guide information can be added and published as a public map. These maps can be embedded in a web site such as www.jersey.com
Additionally I saved the sample as a ‘kml’ file that could also be downloaded by a visitor from the website and used on a Smartphone with Google earth or Google maps or added to the visitors personal Google maps account.
This process could be repeated for all the cycle routes in Jersey allowing potential visitors to view routes, read guides and see the points of interest.
