A post today on Monkey Bites (a blog on Wired.com) titled "Planning a Bike Trip with Web Maps" suggested that MapQuest is the only popular mapping service that offers bicycle friendly route mapping solutions. I disagree.

I tested MapQuest on a ride I do regularly and the results were terrible. MapQuest does not recognize bike trails, paths or routes and there is no feature on Mapquest allowing a bicyclist to search for a bicycle appropriate route. Thus, when Mapquest is set to avoid highways, it routes the user on secondary connector roads.

Test Case
In my test case, I queried MapQuest for directions from the Treasure Chest Casino in Kenner, LA to the New Orleans Causeway's Southshore police headquarters. Both points are on the Southshore of Lake Pontchartrain where an excellent, paved bike path connects them in a direct line.

Test Results
Since MapQuest assumes that the user is requesting directions for a motor vehicle, it routed me South on Williams Blvd, East on West Esplanade Ave, then North onto Causeway Blvd. Besides the fact that this route is over a mile longer than if I rode the bike path, it also would be quite dangerous to attempt. All 3 roadways have high traffic volumes and no shoulders.

My Opinion
I highly recommend Dave Ploch'stweak of the Google Maps interface. It's designed so that runners and cyclists can map their routes. Dave's interface even contains an option to view USGS topo maps which show contour lines and geographical information not seen typically on any of the popular mapping sites. If you create a route with Dave's system, it will even generate a chart showing elevation changes along your route. Very cool.

Links
- Dave Ploch's 2wheeltech.com Mapping System
- Photos: Southshore Bike Trail Along Lake Pontchartrain
- Monkey Bites Blog