But, how well do these directions work? Well, I’ve now spent some time mapping out various bicycle directions, and the answer is “not perfect but pretty darned well.” They have a blog post about their methodology, which explains how an algorithm tries to help you avoid heavily-trafficked streets and steep hills and such. (Some of us like steep hills, of course.) And it does a decent job of it. But it’s in beta so there are a few things which need minor fixing.
For instance, let’s say I want to go from our office to Uptown.