Critical Mass - Atlanta. Image from Dustin C
We're in high summer and the streets are steamy. In the south, the streets are even hotter and more humid where it's probably really hard to ride a bike during this time of the year. The hot summers may be partially to blame for the low numbers of bicyclists, but it has a lot more to do with expansive cities that were primarily designed for the car. But things are changing little by little and the south is becoming more friendly to bicycles.
We're doing our part to support this paradigm shift today by launching Ride the City - Atlanta. With Ride the City, bicyclists in Atlanta now have one more tool to find a safe way to bike from one part of town to another using the web or mobile applications (available on iPhone or Android).
For those new to Ride the City, here are some key features:
- Click and drag start/stop icons to the map for easy routing (or enter a start/end address)
- Choose bike routes that maximize bikeways, includes some bikeways, or choose the most direct route
- Find nearby bike shops and rentals easily
- Get turn by turn directions that show you which streets have bike lanes or bike paths
- Login (for free) and then save and share your routes, or add points of interest
- Download the Ride the City iPhone or Android app for easy, on-the-go routing
- Submit feedback so we can improve routing, or just edit Ride the City's basemap yourself (see below)
Ride the City's basemap comes from Open Street Map (www.openstreetmap.org), the volunteer effort to map the world: every street, lake, boundary, and basically anything geographic you can think of is part of Open Street Map. Anyone can contribute to the map to make it better. Here's a brief video to demonstrate how simple it is to add a bike lane to Open Street Map so that it appears on Ride the City to make better bike routes for everyone: YouTube.
We'd like to thank those who helped us make Ride the City - Atlanta. In particular, we thank the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition for testing routes and adding data to Open Street Map and to Natalie Baker for the many things she's done...like helping us to gather information and compiling data on Atlanta's bicycle shops.
