Google has included six new European bike routes in the Google Maps, announced Kai Hansen, product manager, Geo, Zurich, in the Google Europe Blog post, May 27, 2013.
Google has added six new European countries with extensive bike directions on Google Maps. The bike routes on Google Maps were first introduced in 2012 for several European countries and gained immense popularity and favor among cycling amateurs and enthusiasts. The six new European countries are Germany, France, Poland, Ireland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein.
"Like in other countries, we've added information about bike trails, lanes and recommended roads directly to the map," Hansen wrote in the blog post Monday. "In some countries we've worked with partner organizations. In others users have added hundreds of kilometers of biking paths through Google Mapmaker."
When a user switches to Google Maps to get the biking directions from point A to point B, it shows the most suitable bike path and avoids busy streets. The map will also show estimate time for the route considering the type of the road, terrain and turns over the course of the route.
According to Hansen, the biking directions can be handy in the bike racing challenges held in Europe. Bikers can simply plug in the earphones and turn on the navigation, while Google directs through the best routes available.
Google Maps debuted bike directions in the U.S. and Canada in 2010 and has expanded since. Other countries that also enjoy the biking directions feature on Google Maps include Austria, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.K.
