Originally Posted by
andrewclaus
And in Colorado, at least, Google will route the unsuspecting tourist on steep technical single-track trails. On the map, the Apex Trail looks like a nice alternative to I-70, but it's not.
Yeah, that sucks. Again they could have a preference check box for off road, single track, etc. in the options, but they don't seem to be doing much to refine the bike directions. Seems a shame since they are doing so much with the car directions. They know about radar traps and road construction seemingly immediately, and yet they can't figure out that a steep technical single track trail is not a good altrenate roue for most riders or that going 10 miles out of the way to ride a rail trail for 10 miles of the ride probably isn't the best choice most of the time.
It may be that they need more feedback and have not reached the critcal mass of users to allow that in the bicycle directions. Also we as a group tend to want very different things. Some of us want a direct quick route that is reasonably safe. Some want bike lanes, bike paths, and care less about a direct route. Our traffic tolerance varies widely as well.