Google Map Maker Helped Motor City Become Bike City

Google has been very supportive of Map Maker lately and for good reason, the tool ensures that it offers accurate and detailed mapping data without paying anything for it.

Map Maker has been used to map out entire countries, but Google has repurposed it more recently as a tool for adding local, fast changing info, such as road works and changes, as well as highly localized data.

Bike paths are a great example of that. Big cities do have data on bike paths, but that's often incomplete. What's more, it's hard to get reliable data on bike-friendly roads, for example roads with less traffic.

Using Map Maker though, biking enthusiasts can make sure that their city and surroundings has great bike path data by supplying it themselves. What's more, having the personal experience, they can provide very detailed and useful info, such as the road conditions and what bikes are suitable for a certain path or trail.

That's exactly what happened in Detroit, Motor City of all places, where a local biking group added a huge swath of info to Google Maps via the Maker tool.

Via: Google Map Maker Helped Motor City Become Bike City