Website Ride the City debuted in 2008, integrating Google maps with data about ideal bike routes to let cyclists map a bike ride along as many bike paths as possible, or take their chances with the "fastest," most direct route. Now, with Google's own Bike Directions function breathing down their necks, Ride the City has launched their NYC iPhone app, making their site ideally portable.
On the iPhone, directions are displayed on an scrollable screen, and users can adjust how far they’re willing to go out of the way for safer streets, and can choose a more direct route instead. Like the website, the app will let you find the nearest bike shops and report errors when it steers you the wrong way. Ride the City utilizes a CloudMade basemap that is sourced from OpenStreetMap, the volunteer community mapping project that is making a free map of the world.
