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Is there any way to see a demo of this algorithm for a route of the user's choosing? I'm not familiar enough with San Francisco to evaluate the improvement ment

Is there any way to see a demo of this algorithm for a route of the user's choosing? I'm not familiar enough with San Francisco to evaluate the improvement mentioned in the blog. If I could try some routes in Atlanta, however, I'd get a better sense.

maxerickson 9y ago
The routing engine in general is available as an option at openstreetmap.org: http://www.openstreetmap.org/directions?engine=mapzen_bicycle&route=33.7803%2C-84.4934%3B33.7201%2C-84.4540#map=13/33.7498/-84.4749 http://www.openstreetmap.org/directions?engine=mapzen_bicycl... I checked the request, the JS powering the OSM feature isn't sending the parameters so they are probably the 0.25 defaults there.
- burritojustice 9y ago
  Hi! I'm with Mapzen. Yes, the default for `bicycle` are now 0.25. If you're familiar with Leaflet, it's also pretty easy to draw routes in mapzen.js and pass different parameters to the router -- check the bottom of that post.
  - maxerickson 9y ago
    I would probably try to make a bookmarklet that registered a couple more engines: https://github.com/openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website/blob/3d6a3a6de33aa0c1bc436bce9ea9da33e00460ff/app/assets/javascripts/index/directions/mapzen.js https://github.com/openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website/blob/...
- rconti 9y ago
  Wow, first thing I noticed using MapZen is it sends me over a heavily trafficked freeway overpass to my office... when a detour of only a few hundred feet has me going over a very pleasant bike bridge DIRECTLY into my office parking lot. Will have to check out of the rest of the route vs what Google Maps has me doing now, though. I'm pretty happy with the current route but I'm new to this job so I've got a lot of route exploring to do.
  - maxerickson 9y ago
    Is the bridge mapped on OpenStreetMap? In the case that it is, there could be some data error that breaks routing across it.
    - rconti 9y ago
      I see it in the pretty pictures when I zoom in. I'm not sure what the colors mean. It's a dashed blue line. Openstreetmap seems to not be able to find ANYTHING when I search -- not address, not business name. Hell, if I type "google" it comes up with something in Germany. I guess I just don't know how to use openstreetmap.
      - rmc 9y ago
        The OSM search is an address/place look up search engine, not a generic search engine. When you look for "google", you're probably getting this point ( https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/2903635928 https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/2903635928 ) which is Google's office in Munich, Germany. You'd expect this sort of thing to come up for a result for "google" :) I am curious what sort of things you're searching for, and what you expect. Perhaps there's ways to fix it? Remember, Google has considerably more money than OpenStreetMap.
jlarocco 9y ago
I was wondering the same thing. The screenshots in the article would be more helpful if they were zoomed a little closer, at least enough to show all the street names being mentioned. A topo or shaded relief map would also help. I'm glad people are working on this. The bike directions on Google maps aren't very good, IMO
- cjf101 9y ago
  Anything that can help make safer/more comfortable cycle routing is great step forward. Cycle routing is definitely more complex that driving because of the issue the article mentions. I tried this out. My city is pretty notorious for having incomplete cycling infrastructure. i.e.) you get local areas that have cycle routes, but you often have to brave some craziness to get anywhere for real. For my most common routes, it seems to be making the same choices as Google Maps. They definitely aren't the most optimal or comfortable choices, though I suspect this is at least partially a data problem. Steep grades, stairs, and difficult to find turns (more my city's fault that anything) are on the route, and it takes you though the straightforward but less safe connectors instead of detouring through neighbourhoods. Perhaps one more tuning parameter is needed that would allow weighting stress vs distance?
- altotrees 9y ago
  >I'm glad people are working on this. The bike directions on Google maps aren't very good, IMO I agree, but they are certainly better than nothing. There are so many times I have wished for a real-time, traffic sensitive routing feature on Google Maps when it comes to bikes.This usually happens around rush hour when I am pinned up against the shoulder trying to take the lane and being cursed and buzzed repeatedly. I am also really glad people are working on this, it is really cool and so full of potential.

maxerickson 9y ago

The routing engine in general is available as an option at openstreetmap.org: http://www.openstreetmap.org/directions?engine=mapzen_bicycle&route=33.7803%2C-84.4934%3B33.7201%2C-84.4540#map=13/33.7498/-84.4749 http://www.openstreetmap.org/directions?engine=mapzen_bicycl... I checked the request, the JS powering the OSM feature isn't sending the parameters so they are probably the 0.25 defaults there.

burritojustice 9y ago
Hi! I'm with Mapzen. Yes, the default for `bicycle` are now 0.25. If you're familiar with Leaflet, it's also pretty easy to draw routes in mapzen.js and pass different parameters to the router -- check the bottom of that post.
- maxerickson 9y ago
  I would probably try to make a bookmarklet that registered a couple more engines: https://github.com/openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website/blob/3d6a3a6de33aa0c1bc436bce9ea9da33e00460ff/app/assets/javascripts/index/directions/mapzen.js https://github.com/openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website/blob/...
rconti 9y ago
Wow, first thing I noticed using MapZen is it sends me over a heavily trafficked freeway overpass to my office... when a detour of only a few hundred feet has me going over a very pleasant bike bridge DIRECTLY into my office parking lot. Will have to check out of the rest of the route vs what Google Maps has me doing now, though. I'm pretty happy with the current route but I'm new to this job so I've got a lot of route exploring to do.
- maxerickson 9y ago
  Is the bridge mapped on OpenStreetMap? In the case that it is, there could be some data error that breaks routing across it.
  - rconti 9y ago
    I see it in the pretty pictures when I zoom in. I'm not sure what the colors mean. It's a dashed blue line. Openstreetmap seems to not be able to find ANYTHING when I search -- not address, not business name. Hell, if I type "google" it comes up with something in Germany. I guess I just don't know how to use openstreetmap.
    - rmc 9y ago
      The OSM search is an address/place look up search engine, not a generic search engine. When you look for "google", you're probably getting this point ( https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/2903635928 https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/2903635928 ) which is Google's office in Munich, Germany. You'd expect this sort of thing to come up for a result for "google" :) I am curious what sort of things you're searching for, and what you expect. Perhaps there's ways to fix it? Remember, Google has considerably more money than OpenStreetMap.

jlarocco 9y ago

I was wondering the same thing. The screenshots in the article would be more helpful if they were zoomed a little closer, at least enough to show all the street names being mentioned. A topo or shaded relief map would also help. I'm glad people are working on this. The bike directions on Google maps aren't very good, IMO

cjf101 9y ago
Anything that can help make safer/more comfortable cycle routing is great step forward. Cycle routing is definitely more complex that driving because of the issue the article mentions. I tried this out. My city is pretty notorious for having incomplete cycling infrastructure. i.e.) you get local areas that have cycle routes, but you often have to brave some craziness to get anywhere for real. For my most common routes, it seems to be making the same choices as Google Maps. They definitely aren't the most optimal or comfortable choices, though I suspect this is at least partially a data problem. Steep grades, stairs, and difficult to find turns (more my city's fault that anything) are on the route, and it takes you though the straightforward but less safe connectors instead of detouring through neighbourhoods. Perhaps one more tuning parameter is needed that would allow weighting stress vs distance?
altotrees 9y ago
>I'm glad people are working on this. The bike directions on Google maps aren't very good, IMO I agree, but they are certainly better than nothing. There are so many times I have wished for a real-time, traffic sensitive routing feature on Google Maps when it comes to bikes.This usually happens around rush hour when I am pinned up against the shoulder trying to take the lane and being cursed and buzzed repeatedly. I am also really glad people are working on this, it is really cool and so full of potential.