Perspective
When Will Google Fix Maps for Cyclists?
The tech giant’s new partnership in London seeks to improve a service criticized for recommending dangerous journeys. But riders so far aren’t convinced.
Google says the TfL collaboration has added “hundreds of kilometers” of new bike lane data to Maps in London, and its algorithm has been updated to give priority to quieter streets.
Photographer: Jason Alden/BloombergSign up here for the CityLab Daily newsletter.
Ask 10 cyclists their opinion, the joke goes, and you’ll get 11 different answers. That adage holds true for navigating the urban environment by bike — where trial and error and paper maps meet a host of modern apps and, if that fails, folklore. The question of which method is best very much depends on who you ask.