Trail routes and bike/walk directions now on Google maps.

There's not much more that needs to be said about this. Google announced it last week on their LatLong blog. Google Maps now provides directions along off-road hiking & biking trails. I tried it. It works. Here's an example:

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Kevin Beekman lives, walks and bikes in Alexandria

Comments

[Kevin Beekman]

Having worked with it in the past few weeks, I agree there are areas that need improvement.

But here's the good news: in the announcement that Google made at the link I provided in the post, they say this,

" Soon we even plan on providing you with biking directions to take advantage of this new data. Of course, in the true Google spirit of "launch and iterate," we plan to work with more data sources to add new features in the map. "

You can use the walking directions for biking as I suggested, but directions designed specifically for biking (that Google is planning) will surely be better.

What's more there is a slight work-around: you can drag the directions on Google maps to utilize a known trail or path if the default directions don't provide them.

But more importantly, here's a real fix: Google has set up a facility to accept new trail information if you (or some agency) has the data available: http://maps.google.com/help/maps/basemap/

For end-users, there's another way to provide feedback. Check out this post on the Google LatLong blog: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/03/its-your-world-map-it.html

[Steve Offutt]

Except the directions don't mention going from the 4-mile run trail to the Mt. Vernon Trail. Nor do they instruct one to take the 14th St. Bridge.

This is better than before, but still needs work. I can't get it to put me on the Custis or W&OD Trails when those are the best options.