this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2024
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Just tried out the nav for bikes across town to see the route it picked. It used the same route that Google Maps did, which is a death trap with 55mph cars, blind hills, and no bike lanes. I see no way to report the issue in the app, either.
(Strava chooses the correct, safe route which uses protected bike lanes the whole way)
@something_random_tho @lqwlxxxdxq
You should make an account on openstreetmap.org and modify the map to make it select a better route. You are part of the ecosystem of open-source software and crowd-sourced data.
You can also create an account and just leave a note on the map (a message that other contributors to OSM see) mentioning your observations. It's a good option if editing the map is too overwhelming with all the different tags and how routing algorihms interpret them.
That's good advice. I updated the route in OSM and it now recommends a better path, but still not what I'd consider the safest/still not what Strava recommends. It seems like it prefers shorter distances with painted bike lanes over having a protected bike lane at all points of the journey. It'd be a neat option -- prefer protected lanes even at expense of more distance.
@something_random_tho The pathfinding algorithm is in the client app (like Organic Maps) and the data are in openstreetmap. Different apps can find different paths and there is not much we can do about it, because changing the pathfinding algorithm could break it for many other places. That's why I would rather modify the data, such as marking roads unsuitable for bikes, or making sure the nodes are properly connected, adding speed limits, road surface types... nudge the algo into the right path
@something_random_tho Try this - compare the route from organic maps with route from strava, find the first place where they differ, and then look at that point in openstreetmaps editor - anything strange there? Anything why the algo might choose differently? I once found sloppily connected roads, the algo thought it's not able to turn right and was sending me on a 1km detour instead. Another time it was missing a footbridge so walking route was sending me to a highway.
As other user said: Organic Maps uses data from OpenStreetMap, so the best thing is to go there and see how the roads in that town can be mapped better, if bike lanes are present, and if other characteristics of the roads that make them more/less attractive to bicycles are tagged.
I understand this can seem daunting to someone who has never used OpenStreetMap, but I'd encourage you to at least add a note on the "death trap road" to let other, more experienced, users know about the issue and check the tagging of that and other roads.
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