Google Maps bike directions now in UK, Europe and Australia

Bicycle directions now available for Google Maps in the United Kingdom, bicycle map data available in Europe & Australia.

Sustrans – the British non-profit that supports and promotes sustainable transportation — announced that bicycle directions are now available for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, while Google Lat Long blog announced the expansion of bike data includes Austria, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, although bike directions are not yet enabled for all of those countries.

In my quick experimentation, the UK data seems the most complete and usable. I can find directions all around London, and even between cities in Northern Island and Great Britain (Google Maps will route cyclists on ferries between Ireland and Britain). Oddly, it can’t figure out how to get cyclists to the Isle of Man, although it knows the the ferry service from Belfast to Blackpool stops off at the Isle of Man.

To get bike directions, enter your start and destination addresses at Google maps and click the bicycle icon above the addresses. Dark green solid lines are off-road facilities such as cycle tracks, cycle paths, and shared use footways. The lighter green solid lines are cycle lanes. Dashed lines are designated cycle routes.

Bike Directions London to Olympic Park

As of right now, bike directions seem enabled for UK, The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland. You can even find directions between the supported nations to get, for example, from London to Copenhagen. Although bike directions don’t seems to be supported for destinations within Germany, Google Maps will route you through Germany to get from one bike-directions country to another. See, for example, these directions from Groningen to Malmo. Cool, huh?

I began noticing bike data on Google’s maps worldwide a couple of years ago, and predicted a few weeks ago that UK bike directions would be available Real Soon Now.

Australian bike directions support destinations between different states and territories. You can even get to Darwin, Perth and Hobart from Sydney and Melbourne.

Sustrans created this short video for their bike directions announcement.



Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.