| Many people love bike rides. Many more people love | | | | she wants to ride that day. |
| using the bike at the gym more than going for a ride | | | | An example of this principle was recently used by the |
| outside because they can track mileage very easily. | | | | City of Boston. Boston wanted to figure out where to |
| What many people don't realize is that Google | | | | put in bike paths and where to strip existing paths but |
| provides everyone a tool to track their mileage on a | | | | didn't want to put in a bunch of paths that no one |
| bike, a walk, or a run. The solution: Google Maps. | | | | would use. As a solution to this, the director of the |
| Google, as everyone knows, is an awesome search | | | | project created a Gmail account for the city of |
| engine that dominates the world of searches. Google | | | | Boston. The username and password were given to |
| Maps is Google's map application. What many people | | | | cyclists across the city. |
| don't realize is that with a Gmail account, a person can | | | | The cyclists were then charged with entering their |
| create their own map. Whether this is for restaurants, | | | | own bike rides into the system. Each cyclist was |
| landmarks, or dog parks it does not matter. The point is | | | | asked to put in the date, time, and starting points of |
| that Google Maps lets people create their own map. | | | | each individual ride. The result is a comprehensive map |
| The beauty of this is that a person can plot his or her | | | | of the most-used bike paths in Boston. |
| bike ride on the map. Once this is done, the simple | | | | What's even more beneficial is that people can |
| on-screen tools let the person put in starting points, end | | | | access the map from wherever they want as long as |
| points, and everything in between. The map will | | | | they have the password and username. It gives |
| calculate the distance as the lines are drawn in which | | | | people alternate ways of commuting to work by bike. |
| makes it really easy to figure out. | | | | In addition, the concept allows people who want to bike |
| The beauty is that the total mileage can be written into | | | | to work but might not know how to get there a map |
| the description of the map. This allows the cyclist to | | | | of exactly what someone else has done. |
| pick a previously ridden path based on how far he or | | | | |