19 June 2012

Cycle mapping for Canberra?

| Innovation
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Does anyone know if there is a Canberra/Queanbeyan map or route planner for cyclists?

The ACT Government doesn’t seem to produce a printed one any more and I don’t find that their on line one is very user friendly or easy to print.

I’ve searched RA and sites such as Pedal Power without much success. Also Google and other apps don’t seem to show cycle routes or travel times (eg fast and slow).

UPDATE: Minister Bourke has tweeted an answer:

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How about something like _this_ for Canberra?? Used it quite a bit when I was temporarily in Adelaide…

http://maps.sa.gov.au/cycleinstead/

patrick_keogh said :

… For example a ride from Dickson to Russell of a weekend will use a route across the basketball court at Campbell High. It is a bit hard for route planning to deal with that kind of mix. …

Actually that particular shortcut is in open street map, so should be picked up by any nav products which use it. (online or smartphone) including YourNavigation mentioned above. The beauty of OSM is that everybody can add their favorite shortcuts and tracks. Also the tracks, paths, etc. are marked by category (i.e. bikes allowed, no bikes, walking, surface type)

I use an OSM based route planner at: bike route toaster which is very simple but seems to work ok – it gives routes close to what I’d choose.

patrick_keogh9:51 pm 19 Jun 12

Innovation said :

It is very nice to be thanked. Yes the map is out of date, but even if it was current there are still issues in Canberra (and I suspect other cities) with cycle route planning. Here there are on-road routes that vary from dedicated on-road cycle lane to shared quiet street to shared busy street. Then there are off-road routes that vary from purpose built shared-use path through to narrow footpath that can be used by bikes, and some non-paved routes.

So even on my narrow tyre road bike I use a mix of routes, based on my knowledge, the day of the week etc. For example a ride from Dickson to Russell of a weekend will use a route across the basketball court at Campbell High. It is a bit hard for route planning to deal with that kind of mix. The best we could hope for in a static mapping product would be the main routes marked and to a fair extent the 2005 map has most of those on it. There are small additions and improvements that you would need to know about. Two for me are the complete rerouting of the round-the-lake route at Kingston Foreshore, and the new bit of path alongside Mouat Street in Lyneham.

carnardly said :

Nobody is expecting anyone to bolt out of the way. Cyclists ding to simply let you know a bike is coming up behind so pedestrians and ipodians don’t have a fright or a heart attack.

The ipodians don’t hear anyway and often still jump in fright.

+1

When people move aside and let me through, I make a point of making eye contact when I can, and always saying thank you. Amazing how far a little common courtesy will get you.

madscientist @ #2 – Thanks for the link. Good details and I’ve been able to download a couple of image files onto my old (Nokia – non Android) phone – which works out even better than printing. I also managed to create a couple of image files from the ACT Gov’t ACTMAPi site which shows topography but seems to be around 2004.

patrick_keogh @ #3 – Thanks for redirecting me. I must have looked in the wrong place. I will go in and buy one in the next couple of days but it is quite out of date though isn’t it. And I know I asked for a printed version but now I realise I can get something even more useful on my old phone I’ve developed first world itis.

Have a look at openstreetmap.org, eg, http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=-35.35546&lon=149.23691&zoom=15&layers=M and on the top right you can select the type of map. select Cycle map

There was a great effort to log all bicycle paths, anyway, it is a good start.

If you have a gps, you can do your own logging of bike paths and upload them to OpenStreetMap (steep learning curve)

Nobody is expecting anyone to bolt out of the way. Cyclists ding to simply let you know a bike is coming up behind so pedestrians and ipodians don’t have a fright or a heart attack. The ipodians don’t hear anyway and often still jump in fright.

Kath said :

The printed one that the Minister directed you to is the same out of date one as the unfriendly web version, only OK for paths that haven’t changed since 2005. When I complained about the website not being usable on a smartphone at the start of the year, they said the new version was going to be lovely, etc, and out real soon now. 🙂 The new map has been due since last year, as I recall.

I use the free app Open Cycle Map on iOS, there’s probably something similar on Android. It’s powered by Open Street Map as well.

Re: pedestrian maps – yes, it’s the same map. People are allowed to ride on footpaths in Canberra, as long as they give way to people and ding their bell etc. Can’t do that in Queanbeyan though.

I know that and good for them however the ones that ding their bell in anticipation that you bolt out the way , them oh yes them i take issue with

The printed one that the Minister directed you to is the same out of date one as the unfriendly web version, only OK for paths that haven’t changed since 2005. When I complained about the website not being usable on a smartphone at the start of the year, they said the new version was going to be lovely, etc, and out real soon now. 🙂 The new map has been due since last year, as I recall.

I use the free app Open Cycle Map on iOS, there’s probably something similar on Android. It’s powered by Open Street Map as well.

Re: pedestrian maps – yes, it’s the same map. People are allowed to ride on footpaths in Canberra, as long as they give way to people and ding their bell etc. Can’t do that in Queanbeyan though.

patrick_keogh2:27 pm 19 Jun 12

The Pedal Power site lists three paper maps… well strictly speaking two ride guides and one map. If you drop into the Pedal Power office a copy of the map can be yours for $6

https://shopdesq.imgstg.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=productlisting&CategoryID=1569&OrgID=4426

madscientist1:03 pm 19 Jun 12

Not a lot around, but http://www.yournavigation.org/ which is based on OpenStreetMap is pretty good for figuring out cycle routes – it tends to predict the routes that I would take (i.e. with a preference for off-road paths).

Also gives estimate of distance and time etc, and can export it as a list of waypoints to put into a gps. Doesn’t look like printing from it would be that good..

Is their maps for pedestrian paths? Cyclists seem to own both th road and paths.

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