Finding out some very interesting things during my quest to figure out how to bike from Baltimore, MD to Falmouth, MA. First off: it seems that the ONLY place you can buy comprehensive cartographic representation of the United States for the specific purposes of distance bicycling is a group called Adventure Touring. From what scant information I’ve gathered so far, it appears that AT is involved with some kind of corridor proposal with the Dept of Transporation for creating a US Bicycle Route System - which I’ve mentioned recently, and which I think would be a TOTALLY BADASS change to see over the next few years. Why not convert even a miniscule percentage of our national roads into bicycle only thoroughfares? (Toots & the Maytals’ cover of John Denver’s “Take Me Home Country Roads” just came on while writing this).
So anyway, I’m actively collecting information on these subjects and would appreciate comments and emails from people who know about this stuff. Particularly what I’m looking for is an end-user bike-friendly road atlas (put together by bikers, and not by computers) that covers the North American continent. Surprisingly NOTHING is coming up as a result for what to me seems like a no-brainer money-maker while searching for books about this. A couple of mentions of US bicycle atlases from the late 70s/early 80s with zero additional data. So AT seems to have a monopoly on the data (possibly by virtue of being the only or best source to have mapped it at the level of granularity appropriate for touring bicyclists), though I did see a petition floating around online for a “Bike There” feature to be added to Google Maps - a petition I actually signed for once.
Interestingly, the few (less than five?) guide books to touring across or specific sections of the United States by bicycle aren’t actually route maps. Based on disappointed reader comments, they are more like travel diaries than anything.
Which means… that this information market is wide open. Totally and utterly ready to be exploited by the first team to really collect their own significant bicycle route data across the North American continent. Bicycles can and do reach areas and traverse terrain that cars cannot match - which means that not even GOOG-almight has this data. But I’m sure if you can get it all into a consistent digital format with high quality standards that they would snap that stuff right up.
On a related search, I came across another telling quote:
Google Maps does not include public footpaths in its UK map coverage. Local government authorities in the UK have to keep a ‘definitive map’ of public rights of way. This ‘definitive map’ records public footpaths and bridleways that are ‘public rights of way’. Nearly all maps printed in the UK include these public footpaths as a matter of course. Google Maps for some reason does not include public footpaths.
Public footpaths and rights of way for hillwalkers are a much bigger deal in the UK than in the US, which is too bad because North America has such beautiful treasures as a continent that its a shame we don’t have a much more lively pilgrimage tradition, whether you be traveling by foot or by the pedal.
And let me just lay it out for you plain as to why I’m so interested in this subject: it’s imperative in the United States right now. As people lose their jobs and lose their homes, they start to become drifters, nomads, refugees, itinerant workers, perpetual travelers, homeless. We have many words for them, some nice, but many disparaging as they are words used by people who own property to describe people who try to pass across or settle on the property they own. A sound strategy for dealing with human geographic issues in a time of declining employment is absolutely essential - especially before things get worse than they already are. Maybe I’m being pessimistic in one way, but on the other hand I think creative alternatives like this are great ways to channel positive action.
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7 Comments
I think the problem is the route your looking at is just not a great place to ride bike through. There are all kinds of Bike maps out here in Madison, WI area.
You really want to ride a bike through the NYC?
…and Newark, NJ?
You want to bike through the most densely populated area in the US. Dark blue
Probably the infrastructure is just not conducive to it. I can see your point though about people migrating, if it comes to that definately a challenge you are setting.
Hey Tim, thought I would send you some information that might be really helpful, not only in your quest to find a route/maps from Baltimore to Falmouth, but also about the U.S. Bicycle Route System. I work for Adventure Cycling Association (which you referred to as Adventure Touring). We are a non-profit organization that has been helping people travel long distances by bicycle for over 30 years. We have over 38,000 mapped miles of bike routes that criss-cross this fabulous nation - and one route along the Atlantic Coast might be something you can use in your travels. Check out our routes on our website http://www.adventurecycling.org (go to Routes and Maps) and while you’re there, check out the U.S. Bicycle Route System project we are working on. It is indeed in partnership with state depts. of transportation as they will be nationally designating them (signing and mapping). These will be roads you share with cars - but off-road paths will be stitched in whenever possible. You can see a corridor-level plan at http://www.adventurecylcing.org/usbrs and visit our Forums to give us some input on where YOU would like to see these national bike routes!
Hey again,
About the affordability of the maps, I think when you see the level of detail (we show a map panel, provide turn-by-turn instruction, elevations, seasonal weather, service details, important phone numbers and geographical and historical information about the area you are traveling through) you’ll feel the maps are a great value. It takes us 2-3 years to develop the maps for each route and they are from a cyclists vantage. Have a great trip and let us know if we can help you in any way!
I recently did an interview with the Adventure Cycling Association about the US Bicycle Route System (http://bicycletouringpro.com/blog/adventure-cycling-association-heads-us-national-bike-route-system/) and I’m not so sure it’s that great of an idea.
I could be wrong, but it sounded to me like they were simply going to start by signing existing roads as part of the US Bicycle Route System. I don’t think they are actually going to create any bicycle-only paths (at least right now, in the beginning). They are simply going to sign existing paths and roads as part of the new route system.
This might be nice for existing cyclists, but I think that if we are ever to create a real route system in the United States and get new people involved in cycling, we’ve got to create the massive network of bike/hike only paths just like they have all over Europe. I don’t think putting signs up on regular roads is going to help much. In my opinion, it is the seperate bike paths and trails that are really going to get people out on their bikes.
Hey Darren, thanks for the comment and link. I will check it out in a moment. I definitely see the point you’re making and have written in the past about a similar but smaller scale trend here in the City of Baltimore. They have a habit of painting pictures of bikes in the middle of ordinary streets without even any shoulder and then calling them “bike paths.” It’s been a constant frustration for me as an urban commuting bicyclist - especially having lived in Seattle where you have some really excellent dedicated bike/hike paths criss-crossing the city.
That said, I doubt most of America is really ready to take the more radical step of shutting down existing roads to bike-only traffic. Though, who knows, it may come to that depending on how things go economically. In any case, the first step does seem appropriate to what Adventure Cycling is proposing: first you have to build the concept and the possibility in people’s awareness, and then give them the tools to execute that vision.
Ginny, I’ve definitely heard great things about the level of granularity in your maps and if I had more than six dollars in my wallet right now, I would unquestioningly buy the segments I will need for my trip. Likely I will have to wait another few weeks though or find some cheaper alternative. Another bicyclist friend suggested a company which makes a very good detailed road atlas and to rip out the pages I need.
What about bicycling GPS options? Does anyone have information or ideas about that? Is it better to go with a paper map? If so, why? Thanks for everyone’s contributions! I am really excited and energized by this topic.
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[...] what I understand). There are also turn-by-turn cue sheets you can download for free - unlike the Adventure Cycling route information which you have to pay for (and which I’m still probably going to buy - unless I can find [...]