If you love to get around on a bicycle and happen to live in Europe (in particular Germany, France, Poland, Ireland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein), then you might be pleased to hear that cyclists in the mentioned half dozen countries would now be able to take advantage of Google Maps, as this particular online service has been updated to introduce bicycle directions. Of course, this bit of news might be old hat to some, as they say that such a function has been made available across a fair number of countries in Europe already.
Kai Hansen, Product Manager at Google, did mention that the routes provided by the service be ensure that those on bicycles will be, to the best of their ability, remain away from four wheeled (or more) vehicles on approved routes. This is a good thing really, since it ensures that cyclists themselves would remain safe and sound from other road hazards, and Google achieved this effort by working alongside a fair number of cycling organizations in Europe while taking advantage of the data that it mined itself. Folks in the US and Canada would most probably yawn at this since bicycle directions on Google Maps have been introduced way back in 2010.
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