Functionality on Google Maps was long awaited by those who commute by bike in the city of Lisbon.

Google Maps already provided directions to travel by car, public transport or on foot, and from now on it starts providing the user with directions to ride a bike not only in Lisbon but also in Portugal, allowing you to follow all instructions for navigating existing cycle paths, cycle tracks, and roads other than expressways.
It was a flaw of Google Maps: those who used bicycles as a means of transportation had to work their way between directions for cars (which may suggest freeways) and directions for pedestrians (which may include one-way streets or stairways). The best thing would really be to know the city or choose bike lanes, but there aren't always any, and not everyone has a good sense of direction or is in a city they know well.
Directions for bicycle users arrive on Google Maps by pressure from the Lisbon Municipality teamsin the previous executive, with Google also collaborating on the community platform Ciclovias.ptwhich maps the existing national bicycle paths with the help of data provided by municipalities and input from cyclists, and with the project Ciclovia.ptwhich mainly aggregates information about ecovias and ecopistas.
"With all this information we are able to help you by showing you the best route to reach your desired destination by bike. For this analysis, we take into consideration the various types of bike lanes and which nearby streets might not be suitable for bicycles (because they have tunnels, stairs or potholes in the road)."one reads in a press release from Google Portugal. "Users will also be able to see whether the route is flat or steep and thus prepare for a smoother or more strenuous trip."
Google says municipalities can now have the tool Geo Data Upload Tool to provide missing information and ensure that new bike paths appear on Google Maps. But technology adds that "to provide the most up-to-date route"will appeal to machine learning algorithms to analyze the "real world" through "images, information from public entities and user contributions".
The time estimates are made taking into account a conventional bicycle, and may be lower in the case of electric bicycles. Through Google Maps, we can now compare the bicycle to other forms of mobility and know which means of transport is more competitive in terms of time for a given trip in the city (or outside of it). "By car, on foot, by public transport and now by bike, Google Maps in Portugal gains another feature to continue to be useful at all times and in all your travels and discoveries"says Google Portugal.
