Google Maps for Mountain Bikers

Things are heating up on the Google Maps mashup front. The last time I reported on this topic, most of the applications were aimed at runners or road riding. Now we have two new applications using Google Maps built specifically for mountain bikers.

Nathan Cloud of Crankfire, a Connecticut Mountain Biker Community, may have hit the nail on the head in terms of what I think mountain bikers are looking for in a Google Maps application. Here's how it works:

It starts with a state map that has the locations of trails plotted on it. Click on a trail location and you are presented with a summary page that includes a description of the trail, links to official maps, comments from other riders, and a link to the "Google Mapper."

Here's where the magic begins. A set of parameters are displayed on the left hand side of the map that allow the user to toggle on or off the display of certain way-points including, parking locations, trail-heads, and notable trail features like jumps or bridges. Next, any known trails can be selected and drawn on the map with an option to include directional arrows. Finally, in Gmap-Pedometer style there is a route recorder which allows the user to record way-points (by simply double clicking on the map) and download as a .gpx file for use with other GPS applications or devices. Very cool!

This will be hard to maintain, however, without the help of the community at large. Maybe the next generation of the application will include tools for users to upload routes and way-points. Update: Nathan dropped me an e-mail to straighten me out. The information is community based. I guess I did not spend enough time with the site to figure this out.

Speaking of having the community contribute to the trail database, The Steeps has taken this approach with its new SingletrackWiki. (Don't know what a Wiki is? You can learn about them at Wikipedia which also happens to be the most famous example of one).

The SingletrackWiki (recently highlighted on both BikingBis and  Get Outdoors) starts with a Google Map set to a global view. You can zoom in on a region and click one of the trail way-points to see the trail-head on the map and link for more trail information. Anyone can edit any of the sections including directions, points of interest, trail description, conditions, and photos.

The interface to contribute to the map project is a little clunky, but I am sure this has much to do with the Wiki software (a software category that is still in its infancy). Still, involving the community in this way is a key to growing a useful tool in this era of Web 2.0 applications.

The Steeps has an ambitious goal to make the SingletrackWiki a "free, complete, up-to-date and reliable world-wide trail guide." Don't laugh...this site has gone from a fledgling little blog to a burgeoning mountain bike community in only a few short months.

Both Crankfire and The Steeps are raising the bar when it comes to useful mapping applications for mountain bikers. If we could only mashup these two spectacular applications we would have the killer application for trail information and navigation.