Almost-Satnav For Cycling

An anonymous reader writes "A couple of guys (us) in Cambridge have written a cycle routing system, CycleStreets.net, based on open data, and have now released it as a free iPhone app. It's been done on a shoestring, in spare time. There's an API and some disruptive tech in the form of a photo submission screen where street problems can be submitted directly. Because it's open data, you don't have to wait 6 months for the routing to be fixed if there's a bug. Android and .mobi versions are in the works, with the apps being done on GitHub."

Openfietskaart.nl

[hkz]

Congrats on Slashvertising your app. In Holland we've had www.openfietskaart.nl [openfietskaart.nl] for a while already. There's also www.opencyclemap.org [opencyclemap.org]. Yes, open mapping is cool, no, this is not news.

Re:Openfietskaart.nl

[solevita]

There's also www.opencyclemap.org [opencyclemap.org]. Yes, open mapping is cool, no, this is not news.

OpenCycleMap tiles are used as part of this app; the news isn't maps for cyclists, it's a satnav app for cyclists that's interesting.

Re:Openfietskaart.nl

[shish]

Do those offer route planning at all, let alone taking things like hills or noise levels into account? I have actually been looking for a cycle route planner with those features, and this seems to be perfect, except for being (AFAICS) iphone only :(

Re:Real time updates

[Simon Brooke]

Bingo. That's why I wear bike shorts. Good sweat wicking without seams or folded fabric prevents crotch rot and chaffing. For really long rides (>60-miles), having the thin gel pad is really nice. Of course I'm reasonably fit and don't look too bad in them. I personally don't find the really heavy-set guys or girls in spandex t all that pleasant to look at. But on the positive side, they are out there exercising trying to improve themselves instead of being couch potatoes.

When I participate in a race and see a really large woman struggling to finish, I recognize that she probably put out more effort and guts than the guy who won the race in half the time.

One in every three Americans, one in every four British, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian people are obese. English speaking people are the fattest, slobbiest, laziest people on the planet [journeyman.cc]. The only non-English speaking country to make it into the top seven fattest countries is Mexico. So what if fat people in cycling shorts look fugly? OK, I agree, they do. But they are out there doing something about it, and next year they're going to look less ugly and be healthy, while you car-driving couch potatoes are just getting uglier and less healthy.

People don't wear lycra to show off or look good. Most people don't look good in lycra (Vicky Pendleton [wikimedia.org] excepted, of course). People wear lycra because it's comfortable and practical. But hey, if you're content to waddle from your car to the burger joint until you're too fat to eat anywhere but a drive in, don't mind us. We're not complaining about how you look. Live and let live, after all... at least until you die of stroke or heart attack or diabetes from all that cholesterol and corn syrup.