Bike There!

A friend sent me this article on DirtRag:

Google Maps 'Bike There'
by Karl Rosengarth

The folks at googlemapsbikethere.org have created an online petition to get Google to add a "bike there" component to their maps. They hope to convince the Google Maps team that folks want the ability to get bicycle route information via the main Google Maps interface. In addition to getting driving directions for cars and mass transit information, the folks at googlemapsbikethere.org want Google Maps to provide the ultimate in sustainability and self-reliance and exercise and healthy living—bicycle route information.As of this report googlemapsbikethere.org has collected over 12,000 signatures. You can add your signature to the online petition (which is reprinted below) by clicking here.
To: Google, and the Google Maps teamWe would like a 'Bike There' feature added to Google Maps—to go with the current 'Drive There' and 'Take Public Transit' options.The feature would take into account actual bicycle lanes from the locality being mapped, and it would automatically plan a route for a bicyclist, possibly even providing the cyclist options for either the most direct route, or the most bicycle-friendly (safest) route. The Google Maps-based third party site, byCycle.org (http://byCycle.org/), provides these features for two metro areas—Portland, Oregon and Madison, Wisconsin, and there are countless other mapping initiatives around the world aimed at accomplishing the same goal. We hope that Google will consider building this feature into the core Google Maps service.There are many reasons why this feature would be a wonderful edition to Google Maps. Among them, some of the most influential would be to:
Make bicycling safer for millions of bicyclists around the world.
Empower world citizens to better adapt their lifestyles to face the challenges of global climate change.
Help Google realize its core mission of 'organizing the world's information and making it universally accessible and useful.' By implementing the 'Take Public Transit' option, Google and the Google Maps team have shown themselves to be concerned and capable world citizens; a 'Bike There' feature addition to Google Maps would be the ultimate statement in support of sustainable development.For more information on this feature request please visit the Google Maps 'Bike There' website (http://GoogleMapsBikeThere.org/).Thank you, Google and the Google Maps team! And thank you, petitioners, for joining us in attempting to realize this very important goal!

I'll be signing the petition and I really hope that this feature is intergrated. So sign-up an help remind everyone to "Bike There" more.