In some cities (Austin, Chicago, DC, Louisville, New York City, San Diego, Seattle) it's worth checking out http://ridethecity.com/ http://ridethecity.com/. Not

In some cities (Austin, Chicago, DC, Louisville, New York City, San Diego, Seattle) it's worth checking out http://ridethecity.com/ http://ridethecity.com/. Not just because it lists "elevation gain" for each route (though I'm not sure if it chooses routes with the least gain), nor because it has "safe/safer/direct" option for routing, or even because once logged in it allows setting per-street routing preferences. At a quick glance at Google vs Ride the City for NYC, Google seems to be lacking in a lot of on-the-street know-how (though of course has a fantastically better UI). Something similar happened with Google's public transit directions vs. http://hopstop.com/ http://hopstop.com/. Google seems to tend to idealize the model (assumes that intersections work, lights are timed, and trains run on time), while Ride the City and HopStop, for all their awkwardness, seem to understand the many things that can go wrong with seemingly clearcut routes.