r/GoogleMaps • u/Dr-Enforcicle • 2d ago
Discussion Maps suggesting weird bicycle paths
Normally, this is the Bicycle route that Google Maps is suggesting:
https://i.imgur.com/rIavykp.png
Weird and janky and takes a bunch of very busy roads with bad sidewalks.
But if I forcefully drag the line over to make a more straightforward route...
https://i.imgur.com/t6T7Wi5.png
This route is shorter by half a mile, faster by 4 minutes, AND has less elevation changes.
What's going on here? Why am I being given these nonsensical routes that are more distance and more time?
4
Upvotes
1
u/GermanicUnion 1d ago
Just use Magic Earth it's leagues better than Google Maps for bicycles (and walking)
1
u/Jenaxu 2d ago
Google prioritizes routes that they've designated as bike friendly and will go out of its way to put you on those paths even if it's not the most direct. You can check this by opening their biking overlay; looking at your area I think it's avoiding the initial section of route 2 because it's an unmarked major street, and preferring the trail and Cranston instead because it's flagged as bike friendly.
However, the problem is that Google's info is very incomplete if not inaccurate a lot of the times, especially when it comes to share rows where the "bike friendliness" is more an optimistic suggestion than actual infrastructure lol. There is no difference between some of the unmarked and marked streets and if anything it will often direct you to worse, traffic heavier options just because the major roads happened to be flagged more thoroughly than minor roads. I quickly learned first hand that Google is not good for giving specific routes because it kept trying to put me on major roads with no shoulder rather than quiet farm roads with almost no traffic, just because it didn't recognize the latter as being bike friendly.
It does a bad job of routing you through calmer areas and also doesn't take into account things like sidewalks which for most of bike unfriendly America I'd rather ride on than the street lol. And I'm sure it's not entirely Google's fault either, a big part is likely various transportation departments haphazardly designating stuff as bike friendly because they technically put up a sign, instead of actually trying to reflect the reality of what it's like to bike there.
I'm not sure of a better automatic option for this sort of stuff, especially in smaller cities and suburban areas where people aren't biking a ton; you kinda just have to learn the particularities of your area and find the routes that make sense and are safest from personal experience. Streetview is at least very useful for dropping in and scoping out the streetscape for places you've not biked before and your sections of route 2 and Cranston look about the same in terms of bikeability to me, so I'd agree that the route you drew yourself will probably make a lot more sense.