Meet Google Bike, a Google Earth hack courtesy of Instructables. With some tweaking the bike computer’s sensor detects tire rotation, which is read by Arduino (along with information about the turning angle provided from a joystick) and sent to the computer via USB cable. The result can be used to navigate a virtual bike inside Google Earth.
DIY Bike Lane In Helsinki
Hämeentie is the longest street in Helsinki, Finland, and one of the city’s main thoroughfares. It has four lanes of traffic, but no space whatsoever for cyclists. There’s no bike lane between the buses and the sidewalk.To create their own, the Finnish collective Länsiväylä poured paint along one section of the street and then invited a group of cyclists to ride through it at midnight, leaving a visible trace of where bikes would ride if there were space, and creating a colorful new boundary.
Law-and-order types, worry not: The paint they used washes away with water. Unfortunately, that means that Hämeentie won’t really have a permanent new bike lane. At least not yet: The huge turnout might make city planners take notice. [via Good]
Not everyone is a fan of London’s new cycle superhighways
This week London opened the first two of twelve planned “cycle superhighways,” which Mayor Boris Johnson hailed as the dawn of a “cycle revolution.” A cycle revolution? probably not, buy it certainly sounds nice.
The project aims to increase cycling in London by 400 percent by 2025. Where possible, cycle lanes will be separated from motor traffic and painted blue. According to Transport for London (TfL),
We’re building the Superhighways to:
- Improve cycling conditions for people who already commute by bike
- Encourage those who don’t to take to pedal power and keep fit
- Help cut congestion
- Relieve overcrowding on public transport
- Reduce emissions.
However, according to the BBC, some London cyclists have dismissed Mayor Johnson’s announcement of two new cycle superhighways through the city as a “marketing gimmick”.
Grist reports that bike infrastructure advocates greeted the tracks by calling them “a marketing gimmick” and saying the title “superhighway” is overly generous. Perhaps, though the term is memorable and might help drivers remember to expect cyclists near them.
Transport for London (TfL) told the BBC that space constraints made it impossible to build cycle lanes the length of the routes.
Despite the cynicism of some cyclist, I believe this will help increase bicycle traffic and awareness.
