...isnt it cyclotour@cyclotour.com
or realtravel.com?

but Perhaps by bike will give a new twist....

So it's like GPS for cyclists? Interesting idea.

dont really know much about cycling.. havent been on a bike for ages.

I really like this idea, I would definitely use it and contribute with the social network.

Someone just sent me a web site that does a great job of this: http://www.bikely.com Great integration with Google maps and super easy to use. It even includes GPS upload and elevation display. The only shortfall I see with this site is that it will be very hard to find specific routes once the routes list database gets very large.

I do like the idea of creating maps for different special interest groups. Especially ones that are socially edited and enhanced.

After playing with Bikely.com for a while I believe that a much better service could be delivered. Bikely does not contain a lot of routes in my city and it is hard to find the ones that you need. The route descriptions are too wishy washy and there is no sure way to find a route from one specific area to another.

The key is to improve the quality of the data (always suggest improvements to tagging and use Google to automatically tag wherever possible) and to have an incentive program that results in millions of routes being populated. Could use Amazon Mechanical Turk to add routes quickly. Could also include upload of photos at specific points along each route.

Also, if done correctly, the data from the route database would help city planners do a better job at planning bike routes. This will become more important as we try to reduce greenhouse emissions.

We have something like that in Charlotte, although I don't remember what it was called.

There are two websites you might be thinking about:

http://www.bikementor.org/routes - has a tab for posting bike routes. Very simple, text only (no maps).

http://bikecharlotte.com - uses a map to locate rides within a particular area. No directions or route advice that I can find.

hows it going with this?

It's going well Rizal, thanks for asking. I've created a business and two have joined. I've spoken to someone that works for the City of Ottawa and they think it would be a great resource to help them plan the construction and maintenance of bike routes. I've identified two other "competitors", http://wayfaring.com/ and http://mapmyride.com/ . However, I haven't found anything is that is focused at local cycling commuters and businesses.

My challenge is finding the time and the talent to move this along quicker. You've being at this longer than I, any ideas?

I do like this idea and the basic premise is that you are bringing together elements of concepts that are already out there which do the same sort of thing but improving them and that is certainly the way to go forward, there is nothing wrong with that. I do like this and think it has porential, go for it.

You need individuals who understand the web element of this, not me I am afraid and then take it forward, say on a local level at first if the City of Ottawa are interested in it. Start small and then grow. But if you your small growth is bringing much interest have the machnism in place to expand fast before a competitor gets in there!

FYI - http://www.bikely.com was recently purchased by CyclingPlus. The new website will be called bikeradar. I wonder if they will loose their focus on providing useful bike routes.

Mapmyride - the Mapmy___ folks claim they get 80,000 unique visitors every week (see http://mapmyride.com/advertise)