Tag: Waterloo Life

We’re pausing to reflect, and looking back, 2023 was a year of major transition. 

• We created Cycling Guide Foundation to be a permanent and sustainable home for our free Cycling Guide mobile app.
• We launched the app in Apple’s App Store and in Google Play, with geographic coverage in Waterloo Region and Guelph, Ontario.
• We released new versions of the app, addressing issues and adding small improvements.
• We built relationships with cycling advocacy groups across Canada.

While it’s always easy to wish we had accomplished more, it’s important to recognize progress and milestones. Getting Cycling Guide into the hands of more cyclists is an achievement that we’re proud of. And the feedback that we’ve received from people is gratifying. For example:

“I use it often. Anything to avoid the roads these days.”

“I used this app yesterday to find my way to downtown Waterloo from where I live in Inverhaugh. It was excellent routing me through the dedicated paths and shared roads!”

“I’m always on the lookout for safer and smoother routes to ride for my commute, as well as lovely casual rides!”

“I really like the explore options to see new loops close to me.”

“I’m loving your App! I use it often! I very much appreciate the Cycling Guide.”

The relationships that we’ve been building behind the scenes are crucial to our goal of expanding Cycling Guide coverage to more areas. People who advocate for cycling in particular and active transportation in general are working to improve the world. And we love working with them. We’re excited about our progress, and will share more in the new year.

It may be winter here where we live and work (though there’s little snow to show for it at the moment), but we’re still thinking about cycling and how we can make it easier for folks to ride as a part of their daily lives. 

See you next year!

This post was originally published on the Cycling Guide Foundation site.

It’s been a busy summer for us here at the Cycling Guide Foundation. We’ve been working away on many behind-the-scenes aspects of the Cycling Guide mobile app, and have just released the newest version to everyone via the App Store for iPhone and Google Play for Android. Be sure to install it now. This release addresses many small issues and provides big performance improvements, while also laying the foundation for exciting new future updates for the app.

Many of you will have first used Cycling Guide in its beta form, starting in late July of last year. The feedback that came in from our testers was instrumental in helping us improve the app in general and its routing in particular. Often the improvements came via updates to OpenStreetMap data, and generally we’ve been able to get those data fixes made fairly quickly. Of course the app became more widely available back in May, and I expect that most of the people who had been using the beta version switched to using the May version of the app. We continue to get great feedback from folks using the widely available version of Cycling Guide.

But we still value the feedback to early versions of updates and new features before they are released widely. In support of that, and recognizing that not everyone in the original test group may want to continue with it, we’re opening up a brand new beta program. If you enjoyed testing early releases, here’s your chance to sign up to do just that! As always, we do respond to the feedback we receive, so please do keep it coming.

Join our new beta program now.

Thanks for your continued interest in Cycling Guide. 

Happy cycling everyone.

This post was originally published on the Cycling Guide Foundation site.

Some of you will have been following along as we work with CycleWR to create Cycling Guide. It’s a big project, with plenty of work to do to bring it to Waterloo Region. One of our close collaborators has been David Trueman of CycleWR, who among other things brought to the project an appreciation for and deep understanding of OpenStreetMap. In this guest piece, David shares more about OSM and its importance to Cycling Guide. 

I want to tell you more about how Cycling Guide is built atop OpenStreetMap (OSM.) First of all, what is OpenStreetMap? 

OSM is a map of the world, created and maintained by volunteers and free to use under an open license. OSM provides map data for thousands of websites, mobile apps, and hardware devices. Virtually every online map that you see, other than Google, is based on OSM. That includes Apple and Facebook.

OSM is the Wikipedia of map data. Not only is it free to use but any member of the public is free to update it to add to or correct local information.

OSM is well aligned with one of the goals of Cycling Guide: to provide a hyperlocal resource for anyone who would like to find their way on a bicycle in Waterloo Region, no matter what their experience or confidence level. Cycling Guide will be open-source software; the source code will be available to examine and use by anyone who wants to.

Open data, open source software, open knowledge and OpenStreetMap share a common theme: we can and should all benefit from community efforts rather than having the fruit of those efforts locked up for private benefit. If knowledge of prior intellectuals had not been openly available, Isaac Newton would not have been able to declare in a 1675 letter: “if I have seen further [than others], it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

So, that’s all the theory. How is OSM working out in practice?

First of all, the map data in OSM is remarkably complete and accurate (although not perfect!) This means that, as we tune Cycling Guide’s handling of the OSM data, the app is generating fantastic routes that, wherever possible, avoid the need to travel with heavy traffic.

Because Cycling Guide volunteers can directly change the OSM data, we are able to add new cycling facilities right away. We observed this directly with the new Farmer’s Market Trail. On the day the trail officially opened, we were already generating routes that use it — long before the apps from big companies which don’t have this tight local connection.

More often we are able to fix small inaccuracies quickly. Just the other day I was using Cycling Guide and noticed it was directing me to ride on the sidewalk on a quiet local street. It turns out that the OSM data for that sidewalk was wrong and I was able to correct it the same day.

Feedback from users is prominently featured in Cycling Guide, and our intention is that when users report less than optimal routing, we will be able to make corrections in a timely way and demonstrate results

Like Wikipedia, we have the benefit of peer review to ensure accuracy and consistency. On more than one occasion I have made a small error in my OSM changes and other local OSM editors have been quick to point out the error so I can correct it.

When you sign up for early access and use Cycling Guide, now you’ll know that you will be standing (riding?) on the shoulders of giants.