CycleStreets Goes LIVE!

Cambridge cycle campaigners Martin (front) and Simon have every reason to look pleased with themselves!

They have just pressed the button to remove the password protection on CycleStreets.net. The pair were also responsible for the seminal Cycle Journey Planner in Cambridge produced because of their computer programming skills and active involvement in the Cambridge Cycle Campaign.

Over a year ago the idea of a similar CJP for Edinburgh was raised with the Scottish Government’s Sustainable Transport section. A fairly small sum of money (not the mega-millions spent on some UK Government computer projects!) was found to make this happen.

Originally a public website was planned for September, but computer projects usually overrun… This time it was for a good reason. It was realised that, with a bit of extra time and effort, A Cycle Journey Planner to cover the whole of the UK would be possible.

You can’t plan a route from Land’s End to John o’Groats – the main purpose of CycleStreets is to encourage more local journeys by bike (or on foot). At present the maximum distance is 30 km (as the crow flies).

The Planner gives a choice of route – shortest, fastest, (which are often the same – though as the software was developed in Cambridge, which is essentially flat, hills are not accounted for – yet…), and “quietest”.

The accuracy of this depends on the quality of Open Street Map data. As soon as you start using CycleStreets you will notice familiar urban streets are sometimes marked as “quiet country road”! The good news is that anyone can improve the OSM info.

Why not plan a route using edinburgh.cyclestreets.net and consider adding improvements to the Open Street Map.

If you are not sure where your planned route goes you can even “fly through” in Google Earth!

NOTE CycleStreets is currently “beta” – still some bugs to be found and squeezed. Simon and Martin are wanting cyclists to send them feedback about any problems using the button at the top of all pages.

Google Street View Arrives

Last year car mounted cameras toured streets in Edinburgh (and 24 other UK cities).

At last the results (Google Street View) can be viewed on-line.

Really quite impressive – unless of course you’ve been photographed somewhere you’d rather not have been…

Faces may have been blurred but your distinctive bike won’t have been! Hours of endless fun searching for people/bikes you know.

See if you can find a street scene with more bikes than this one.

Perhaps of more use is that the Google “satellite” images (used in Google Maps and Google Earth) of Edinburgh have been updated recently with slightly higher resolution and a bit more coverage of Mid and East Lothian.

Another 20 miles

Edinburgh is fortunate to have a wide range of places to explore in the city, its suburbs and surrounding countryside. It’s possible to devise routes using mostly off-road paths and quiet roads.

There are various groups organising rides to suit most sorts of cyclists including TryCycling (usually 5 to 10 miles) and CTC Lothians (up to 70 miles). Edinburgh RC organises fast rides.

The 20 Milers is an informal group that meets once a month at the top of Middle Meadow Walk (just off Lauriston Place) – anyone can go along. This Saturday (March 14th) the destination will be the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena near Ratho.

cycling-edinburgh.org.uk does a good job of listing all ‘known’ rides.