CycleStreets blog

This is a guest post from Carlton Reid, executive editor of BikeBiz.com and the editor of BikeHub.co.uk. He writes here about the great new facilities in the Bike Hub app, which uses our routing and OpenStreetMap POIs feed.

The latest version of the Bike Hub cycle satnav app is 2.2; I’m currently testing 3.0, due for release soon. The new version will be packed with extra features, many of them suggested by app users.

I’m conflicted by all the additions. On the one hand I’ve always wanted to keep the app plain, simple, focussed. But users have said they want it to be feature rich.

2.2 – released at the end of October – was enriched with a GPX download feature so plotted routes could be emailed to a user for later use, perhaps in a route visualisation programme, such as Google Earth.

I’ve used this feature a couple of times but it’s not what I’d consider the app’s core function: this core function is to be a cycle-specific satnav. We have also been asked to include other ‘performance monitoring’ features but there are many other apps out there that do this well.

It’s a fine balancing act: making the app feature-rich but not so complex that it becomes hard to use or worse, buggy.

The app is a standard satnav in that it routes from A to B. Version 3.0 adds what could be a world exclusive and that’s A to A routing. This makes the app into a touring tool: arrive at a railway station with your bike, fire up the app to guide you on a three hour trip sticky to country pubs and off you go.

Part of this functionality was added to 2.2. You can navigate to and from Points of Interest: ATMs, places of worship, parks, castles and many other PoIs.

Version 3.0 uses this growing database as a tour suggester.

Also in version 3.0 – and a much requested feature – is dynamic route recalculation. Stray from the route and the app will suggest you make a u-turn. Stray a bit further and the app will create a new route, on the fly. This is standard on car satnavs, and it’s finally on Bike Hub version 3.0, thanks to app coding work from app developer Tinderhouse and routing tweaks by CycleStreets.

Version 3.0 also has tighter integration with CycleStreets, adding a box to input a CycleStreets journey number. This will be useful if you prefer to pre-plan your routes via desktop and then want to transfer the same route to your smartphone.

The most requested feature from users is added in version 3.0. This is map cacheing. Map tiles can be downloaded to a smartphone when in range of wifi or a good 3G signal. Users will still require a phone signal to call down the route from CycleStreets but maps – which can take a while to download in a poor signal area – can now be stored locally. (And deleted later, if wished).

I know I’ll use this feature for cycle tours in Northumberland.

The app has evolved greatly since launch and will continue to evolve, thanks to funding from the Bike Hub levy fund. If you have other features you’d like to see added, get in touch. editor at bikehub.co.uk

Carlton Reid

We're pleased to announce the launch of a major new section of our website:
Points of interest that you can click on to view and select for your journey.

Points of interest

We've integrated OpenStreetMap location data so that you can now click on points on the map. Just go to our journey planner tab and you can use the presets like bike shops, cafés, pubs, and many more.

(Mobile app developers: This data is also available through our API – see below.)

For instance, stations:

If you select a point, it is clickable. A Google Street View picture of the location will be shown, if it's a roadside location:

There's a link in the popup to the place's website if it has one.

There are lots of different POI types available:

You can browse locations anywhere the UK, for instance to find these independent bike shops in London:

Please add locations to the map!

If a place you know of doesn't appear in the map, please contribute your knowledge to OpenStreetMap by using the Edit section of our website. Warning: it can be quite addictive!

Or perhaps no-one's added a location's website yet? Click on the 'add it' link in the popup shown above. Follow the link, click on the icon, click on 'Advanced' and then enter 'website' on the left and the URL on the right, and click Save. You'll need to create an OpenStreetMap account if you don't have one already.

You must not copy things from other people's maps, however – additions and edits must be based on your local knowledge of an area.

API

This data is now all available through our API so that it can be integrated into your cycle routing app.

For full details, see our API documentation.

(We hope to have this functionality in our own apps shortly. If you can help patch it in, please branch our app repo and pitch in!)

We've added a mini-feature to our website and mobile apps that some regular train-using cyclists may find useful.

You can now enter train station codes (e.g. KGX for King's Cross) in the search box, and the location of that station will be found. It just avoids lots more typing, and is useful if you use particular stations regularly.

We've been able to do this thanks to a dataset on Scraperwiki.

Also works in our mobile apps

This works in our apps for iPhone, Android and mobile web:

In fact, any app using our geocoder API, such as Bike Hub will pick this up too.

Preset URL formats also supported

You can also enter these in our preset ("plan a journey to..") URLs too.

For instance, http://www.cyclestreets.net/journey/to/kgx/ will set King's Cross as the destination point.

Or http://www.cyclestreets.net/journey/kgx/wat/ would set the points for King's Cross to Waterloo.

You can read about the many preset URL formats we've set up, which cover postcodes and more.

We're pleased to announce that we're working with Bike Hub to create a new circular (A-A) leisure routing mode for the Bike Hub app for iPhone and Android.

Bike Hub is a joint initiative of the Bicycle Association and the Association of Cycle Traders via the Bike Hub levy scheme. The objective of Bike Hub is to generate funds from within the cycle industry to support the future of cycling in the UK.

The Bike Hub app for iPhone and Android is the 'cycle satnav' for the UK – with a 3D mode for planning and following cycle journeys anywhere in the UK. CycleStreets provides the routing behind the app.

When CycleStreets first went live, we began by offering a choice of A to B routes for the everyday cyclist. In feedback we receive we've frequently been asked to provide support for routes that go through intermediate points. We've meshed these requests with Bike Hub's desire to help people discover attractive cycle routes where they live.

The result will add a leisure routing mode to the app that can suggest circular routes or construct a circular route through several places of interest. On mobile this will be exclusive to the Bike Hub app. Leisure routes will be available on the main CycleStreets website so that they can be transferred to the app.

Together with other funds we have recently raised as part of our funding drive, this work should enable us to take on a developer to enhance the routing in various ways. We'll shortly be hiring – stay tuned!

We're pleased to announce that the journey planning limit has been doubled to 200 miles (320km). This is well over a day's cycling!

Mobile users should bear in mind that long journeys result in more data being sent over the wire so a slower response should be expected. The generation of the route and its metadata naturally also takes a little longer.

We really enjoyed the January Net2Camb Meetup event, where one of our lead developers, Martin, gave a talk 'Our Story'. Thanks to Claire for organising the event and everyone who came!

It was particularly enjoyable as it was a rare opportunity to talk about the business and competition aspects of CycleStreets, about the challenges we face, and the future opportunities for the project.

We were also pleased that a couple of people came forward as new volunteers!

Here is our presentation [link]:

Since we released our iPhone app a few days ago, we've had a quite a number of enquiries about other platforms. The funding that helped pay for the iPhone app included in large part a sum to develop the routing API generally, so mobile apps on a whole range of platforms now are possible.

We have two initial priorities:

cyclestreets.mobi small-screen version of the main site

A small-screen version of the main site is being prepared, which will be available at cyclestreets.mobi.

We are aiming to ensure this is as compatible as possible with a whole range of devices, and we welcome offers of testing help.

Android app

As previously mentioned on this blog, we have an Android app in the works, with the code on our GitHub repository. We don't have a timescale yet, as it depends on volunteer help, but if you're interested in helping out, do get in touch!

We're particularly keen to ensure through the Android release that people can upload to the Photomap given the Photomap's use for www.CyclingSorted.org and soon a similar portal for London.

One of the developers has sent us a screenshot of the work-in-progress. We hope to have more screenshots very soon.

Java (Nokia/Sony-Ericsson/Blackberry)

We don't have plans as yet to do a dedicated Nokia app, but if someone is interested in doing one for us, do get in touch.

However, the TrackMyJourney app for Java (runs on Nokia/Sony-Ericsson/Blackberry devices, though not Android) includes CycleStreets routing already amongst its many other features.

Our API

We have an API that developers can sign up for. We're particularly keen to see the API used in Android apps now that the iOS arena is reasonably well-covered.

This is a guest post from Carlton Reid, executive editor of BikeBiz.com and the editor of BikeHub.co.uk, who commissioned and helped designed the great new Bike Hub app which uses our routing!

Less than 24 hours after hitting iTunes, the Bike Hub journey planning and bike shop finding iPhone app snuck into the top ten free navigation apps. Result!

The reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. 10 out of eleven reviewers gave the app the top score of five stars (one curmudgeon gave a lowly one star but that's tinternet for you).

Wonderfully for Cyclestreets, the majority of the reviews have been praising the routing.

Bike trade veteran Nathan Bellamy (an iTunes reviewer of note, having rated 18 previous iPhone apps) wrote:

"I've got to hand it to you, this is good. I've checked the route to my local town 7 miles away that has a choice of 4 similar routes but some are riskier or hillier than others. This app will be invaluable in London and has introduced me to the OpenStreetsMap project, which I will help update."

Double result.

'SpokesWithNoakes' wrote:

"I've tested this on half a dozen of my carefully 'optimised for cycling' routes, some including off road paths/cut throughs and it's returning routes very close to the ones I use. A strong first release."

Clearly, people love the routing and many appear to believe it's a bespoke build for the Bike Hub app rather than being an app powered by the algorithmic wonderfulness of Cyclestreets.net.

Not that we keep it quiet. There are Cyclestreets mentions all over the app but the mobile nature of the app is clearly adding something potent to the mix.

The app is free on iTunes because it was funded by Bike Hub, the UK cycle industry's levy scheme. 

Over on Twitter, the reaction to the app has been almost overwhelmingly positive, and not just because it's free. Blogger Karl McCracken wrote "app looks amazing – very, very impressed!"

Mind you, you can't please everybody. Industry veteran Brant Richards of Shedfire fell into Grumpy Old Man mode when he quipped:

"How on earth did we survive before we had iPhone cycle planning apps?"

I replied "… or before we could get cut-through advice from local riders? There's now an app for that."

There are tons of extras on the app, but the routing-that-feels-like-you're-a-local is the app's key strength. I found this out last week in London. I planned a route from Kings Cross to the Look Mum No Hands bike shop on Old Street. The app took me on a route I wouldn't have otherwise taken and I had to trust in the app rather than my own judgement on one section of the ride.

I had over-shot a three-way junction and felt the map and the app must be wrong. There was no junction, just a left-hand turn. The old me would have ploughed on, blaming technology. The new me with a beta app to test backtracked to what I thought was going to be a 'ghost' junction. Lo and behold there was a ten-metre long cut-through, which I'd have to walk. I hadn't noticed the cut-through at the turning point. It was still pretty small and insignificant. Entering it, the cut-though opened up like a cross between Diagon Alley and The Land That Time Forgot.

I walked through and on the other side a new vista awaited: a dog-leg street that led to some quiet, hidden roads I couldn't quite believe existed so close to the traffic-choked thoroughfares I'd normally chose to navigate along in London.

That cut-through was added to the OpenStreetMap by somebody; a local probably. Using the Bike Hub app is like being able to call on a friend who knows all the clever short-cuts. 

I commissioned and helped design the app so if *I* had that sort of epiphany, I can imagine this app – and the one from Cyclestreets itself – will help tens of thousands of people to find new and clever routes. More cycling, more often – the catchphrase of Cycling England – could very well be the result.

Cyclestreets in the palm of your hand is liberating.

Carlton Reid is the executive editor of BikeBiz.com and the editor of BikeHub.co.uk, the levy funded news-and-features website taking over from Bikeforall.net

Get it at: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/bike-hub-cycle-journey-planner/id391782662?mt=8

This is a guest post from Nic Wise, creator of London Bike App – for the London cycle hire scheme, who is using our routing interface in his app. We asked him to tell our readers about his app, as it's another of our favourite apps of the seven(!) that have been released! He doesn't mention it, but there's also an ingenious surprise that you get when using the app … Well worth a download!

When I first thought about designing London Bike App (iTunes link: http://bit.ly/ldnbikeapp), I came up with a few simple things that I wanted in a mobile cycle app. First, I wanted to find bikes that were close to where I was right now. Second, how to get from where I am (with or without a bike) to somewhere that has bikes (or places to put a bike)? And lastly, how do I do this without getting charged (or keeping charging to a minimum)?

The main focus was always on the user riding the bike, not the user using the app. How can I get the user to a bike, on a bike, and then back to a dock with the minimum of fuss and cost?

After 2 releases, that's pretty much exactly what London Bike App does. It's not the all-singing cycle app, it's very much focused on the casual user, someone who thinks "oh, I need to go there, lets use a bike", and as such, I think the interface is simpler and easier to use for it.

There are a couple of things I still want to add, but most of those sit around this core design goal of "nearest available bike/dock to me, right now". Some people have asked why I am charging for this app. The reason is very simple: 59p is a very small amount, and it means I can dedicate some (normally paid) time to making the app the best it can possibly be.

Adding routing was something I was a little apprehensive about. I'd not used the iPhone MapKit before (which provides a lot of the grunt work for doing maps, scrolling, caching and annotation, from pins to lines to anything you can draw), or a routing engine like CycleStreets. In the end, it was quite easy – the integration between the iPhone (Google) maps and the OSM-derived CycleStreets map couldn't have been better.

CycleStreets provides a nice list of lat/lon coordinates (and a load of other stuff, which I didn't need – and thanks to Martin for creating as an API option the removal of the extra metadata, which made the download 95% smaller), and MapKit just happens to take in a set of lat/lon coordinates, so it was an easy fit. In the end, adding routing took about a day from "who even provides this data?" to fully working and debugged code. I think it's a tribute to CycleStreets API and site just how quick and easy this was.

One of the other features – unique at release, but since added to a number of other apps – is the timer. The cost of using the bikes goes up quite sharply when you go over the free period, so a timer was always a major feature from day one. One still-fairly-unique point of the timer in London Bike App is that it works even if your phone is off, in your pocket, or you are using another application. So regardless of what you do, you will always know when the hire period is about to expire.

The current version (v2.0) of London Bike App is out now, with v3 about to go in for review.

v2 includes retina display graphics (looks fantastic on the iPhone 4), as well as the much-demanded real-time updating dock information. I hope you enjoy it – I've enjoyed creating it, using it, and also seeing what all the other app developers have come up with. v3 has a few interesting features which I'm sure people will have fun using.

If you have any feedback, please visit the site and leave a comment on the about page, or tweet me (@fastchicken or @londonbikeapp, or even good, old-fashioned email (nic.wise@gmail.com).

This is a guest post from Alex, creator of Cycle Hire App – for the London cycle hire scheme, who is using our routing interface in his app. We asked him to tell our readers about his app, as it's one of our favourite apps of the seven(!) that have been released, and that's not just because it's using our routing API - it's very polished and has a wonderfully clean interface with some innovative ideas! The use of an offline map is also a great advantage. It was also the first to be announced.

Hi there, this is Alex, designer & developer of Cycle Hire App. As we've just released the first version of the app in the app store (http://bit.ly/getcyclehireapp), I'd like to take a moment to introduce the app and thank CycleStreets for opening up their service for mobile apps like ours.

Cycle Hire App & CycleStreets

I built this app (and I'm giving it away for free) because I want to help people in London who like cycling. That's why when I started work on the app a couple of months ago, I integrated CycleStreets as a way to help those who wanted to use the cycle hire scheme but weren't familiar with the road network in Central London. Unlike the directions offered by Google Maps, CycleStreets/OSM knows about cycle paths & all sorts of shortcuts for cyclists, e.g. when you can push your bike along a pedestrian path for a while, instead of cycling around a block.

We're looking forward to working with CycleStreets as our app evolves, and we'd love to help them improve their online service and their own iPhone app.

Other features

Apart from the flexible routing, the app has all sorts of ways to help people find docking stations, such as searching around tube/rail stations and tourist attractions. There's also a postcode search, which is based on the recently released OpenData from Ordnance Survey. When you find locations that you frequently use, you can save them in your 'Favourite Locations' list for easy access.

I also wanted this app to be the most user friendly out of all the other cycle hire apps out there. This means giving as much space as possible to the map, making sure all functions are accessible with a couple of taps, and focusing on making the app very fast (after all, who wants to stare on an iPhone screen when they could be on a bike?). One way we made the app faster is by pre-loading all the maps. This means no endless waiting for the maps to load when you've got a bad signal. As a bonus, the maps also work when you're underground with no signal, or if you have an iPod touch.

We have an exciting roadmap with many more features coming up, including live bike availability data and a timer to remind you to return the bike before the end of the free 30 minute period. If you have any more ideas, we'd love to hear from you. Leave a comment on this blog, or email us on feedback@cyclehireapp.com