After the launching biking directions to a number of countries in Europe in 2012 and it turned out to be a pretty popular feature with cyclists. And it’s not big surprise. Some of you might don’t know that bicycle is major mean of transport for millions of people in many European cities. Now cyclists in Germany, France, Poland, Ireland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein will have this option available as well.

Google Maps’ biking directions include information about bike trails, lanes, and recommended roads directly on the map. In some countries, Google worked with partner organizations, and in others cyclists have added hundreds of kilometres of biking paths through Google Mapmaker. Planning a bike route with Google Maps is done in the same way as planning a route with any of Google Maps’ other support transportation modes, like walking, driving or taking public transit. When asking Google for directions, you’ll get a route that avoids busy streets and uses good bike paths.

Time estimates for your bike ride will be “based on a complex set of variables accounting for the type of road, terrain and turns over the course” of your ride. Turn by turn navigation is also available for cyclists so you can get set with your headphones and let Google Maps take you where you need to go. As result Google again proved to be incontestable leader in mapping, however from my research there are still quite a lot of bike paths to be added left…

source: Google Europe Blog