Google Maps unveiled the addition of biking directions Wednesday at the National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C. The new beta offering is being launched in partnership with the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy -- a nonprofit organization that has already built a database for locating more than 1,600 rail trails and connecting corridors available for free public use.

Google Maps now includes data on bike lanes and recommended streets for 150 cities across the United States, noted Shannon Guymon, product manager for Google Maps. "Bikers all over the country now will be able to explore new trails or find specific directions in their local community with just a few clicks of their mouse," he said.

Customized Routes

Guymon noted that biking has been the most requested addition for Google Maps. "If you're one of the 57 million Americans who ride a bike, mapping your daily commute, exploring new trails, and planning recreational rides just became a little bit easier," he wrote in a blog.

Currently Google Maps only provides step-by-step bicycling directions on desktop PCs and notebooks, though the company said a mobile version of the service is also in the works. To get started, simply enter a start point and destination and select Bicycling from the drop-down menu.

"You will receive a route that is optimized for cycling, taking advantage of bike trails, bike lanes, and bike-friendly streets and avoiding hilly terrain whenever possible," Guymon explained.

The proposed route for the ride is presented on top of the city map as a blue line overlay. Bikers can further customize the route to include nearby sites by clicking on the blue line and dragging it to include a local landmark. "Just like Google pioneered with driving directions, you can click and drag your route to customize it as you'd like," Guymon observed.

Google Maps also will estimate the amount of time required for any biking trip. To do this, the service uses a complex set of variables to account for the type of road, terrain and turns over the course of the journey, Guymon noted.

Color-Coded Overlays

Bikers looking for a quicker cycling route to work or a new destination for a recreational ride can evaluate the possibilities by simply looking at the city maps. "Maybe you [will] notice a trail that will make your daily bike-to-work commute safer and more scenic," Guymon wrote.

When zoomed into a city, click on the More button at the top of the map to turn on the Bicycling layer. "You'll see three types of lines appear on the map," Guymon noted.

The dark green lines are bike-only trails, whereas the light green lines mark dedicated bike lanes alongside city roads. Additionally, the dotted green lines indicate which roads are appropriate for biking, based on factors such as terrain, traffic and intersections.

Google Maps hopes to further refine the data for its biking service via user input. "We are constantly adding new trail information and encourage bikers to send feedback and route information for inclusion via our reporting tool that you can find at the bottom of the map," Guymon wrote.

The goal is to make it easier for people living and working in crowded urban centers to decrease their dependency on automobiles, which can have several benefits. "The demand for trail maps and information has never been higher, especially as more people recognize biking as a viable, inexpensive and healthy alternative to driving," said Rails-to-Trails President Keith Laughlin.