A new bicycle route planner has hit the Danish internet and it's pretty cool. Brian Haunstrup developed the Cycle Copenhagen route planner as a thesis project at the Institute for Geography and Geology at the University of Copenhagen. It was further developed and administered at Web Bureau Klikbart.
What makes it more interesting and useful than all the other route planners out there is that you get to choose from five different routes from your A to B (via C if you like) journey.You punch in your addresses and then you choose one of the following options:Shortest Route - Get there in a hurry, but take care!Optimal Route - Use the best cycle tracks and get there a little bit safer.Safest Route - Steer around the heaviest traffic.Greenest Route - Take a trip on the green cycle networkQuiet Route - Enjoy quiet time on smaller streets.I've tested it out on some different routes and apart from a couple of minor glitches [it's in Beta, so no problem] I could clearly see the difference in routes. An extra bonus is clicking on the tab Vis Netværksdata (Show Network Data) on the top right of the map. A list shows up that gives you info about noise pollution levels, three levels of car traffic and three levels of bicycle traffic. In the screen grab, above, you can see the route I chose in green and then various layers of information added, including high, medium and low bicycle traffic as well as high car traffic levels. Click on the map and a box pops up. In the case of the screengrab, it's showing the number of cyclists crossing Queen Louise's Bridge each day. Brilliant stuff.An English version is planned as well and Brian has plans for thematic routes. Fancy an architecture tour of the city? Select architecture as a theme, punch in how many stops you want and how far you want to ride and the route planner will generate a route for you. If only commercial and/or municipal projects were this well thought out. We'll be linking to this puppy on the website and we hope it lives a long, healthy life.Cycle Copenhagen Bicycle Route Planner - www.cyclecopenhagen.dk.
