How to set up bicycle on Google Maps

You are planning a trip out of town and, as a good bicycle lover you are, you plan to do a lot of routes on the saddle of your “travel companion”. What to say? That’s a great idea! If you plan to do this without a navigator, however, you may have a lot of difficulties finding the routes to follow to reach the destinations you plan to visit. In this regard, you had thought of using Google Maps, but you do not know if and how to use the famous Google app in relation to cycle paths.

Do not worry, if you want I can help you and explain how to set up a bicycle on Google Maps, however, I have bad news for you: at the time of writing, the bike routes on Google Maps are not available in Italy and, therefore, you can use the feature in question only if you are planning a trip to a geographic area that is covered by the feature in question.

Should there be any news in this sense, I will not fail to update the article. Meanwhile, I leave you to read the general indications on what to do, currently only feasible in the areas covered by the function. Happy reading and… good pedaling!

Index

• How to set up bicycle on Google Maps on smartphones and tablets
• How to set up bicycle on Google Maps on computer

How to set up bicycle on Google Maps on smartphones and tablets

First of all, let’s see how to set up a bicycle on Google Maps from smartphones and tablets. All you have to do is set up a route (clearly, in a geographic area that is compatible with the cycle routes function), defining the start and destination, and select the option that allows you to view the bike routes.

First, therefore, start the Google Maps app on your Android or iOS / iPadOS device, press the blue Go button located at the bottom right and fill out the form that appeared at the top, specifying the starting point in the first text field and the destination in the second text field, taking care to select the correct suggestions after writing the places of your interest.

Once you have done this, all you have to do is press the button depicting the little man on the bicycle (top right) to calculate the route to take. On the map, as you can see, one of the available routes will be indicated in the blue menu (presumably the fastest one will be highlighted); if multiple routes are available, you can select them from the gray menu. If the little man icon is not present, however, obviously there are no cycle paths for the chosen itinerary.

In the box that appears below, you will also be notified of the estimated travel time and distance of the route: by pressing the Preview button, you will be able to see a preview of the same and also view the difference in height present on it; By pressing the Directions button, instead, you will see the list of directions available for the selected route.

In some cases, the City Bike tab may be available which, if pressed, signals the presence of any bicycles and bike-sharing stations available along the route and which also allows you to easily reach the connection of the app to be installed to book a bike ( Install the app ).

Do you simply want to see a map of the bike routes available in a certain area, rather than planning a route? It is possible to do this too. To do this, search for the geographical area of ​​your interest using the search bar at the top (on the main screen of the Google Maps app), press the diamond icon located at the top right and select the Bicycle item in the section Map details of the opened menu.

As you can see, cycle paths will be marked on the map, marked with a dark green color. If you should see the message Bike view not available at this zoom level or in this geographical area, try to enlarge or narrow the view of the map related to the area of ​​your interest and, above all, make sure that for the area in question is the Google Maps function relating to cycle paths is available: it may be that the area is not compatible.

How to set up bicycle on Google Maps on computer

If you want to set up the bicycle on Google Maps on a computer, the steps you need to follow are not so dissimilar to those I showed you in the chapter dedicated to mobile devices. Also in this case, in fact, it is possible to set a route or activate the display of cycle paths in an extremely simple and fast way.

Of course, I repeat what I have already said a few lines above: we need to act on a geographical area that is compatible with the function relating to cycling routes (in Italy, as I told you, at the moment it is not possible to do this).

The first thing you have to do, therefore, is to go to the Google Maps home page, click on the white arrow icon on the blue diamond (in case you do not see it, click on the ‣ symbol to bring up the sidebar that contains it) and use the appropriate text fields to define the starting point and destination. Once these aspects have been defined, click on the icon of the little man on a bicycle located in the upper bar of the sidebar located on the left, so as to view the routes that can be done by bike.

At this point, the fastest route will be highlighted on the map in the blue menu. If there are alternative routes, you can select them (they are the ones in the gray menu, so to speak). After defining the route, on the left you will be shown some additional information, such as height differences, distance, and so on.

If you simply want to see a map of the cycling routes available in a given geographic area, rather than planning a route, know that this can also be done. How? After going to the main page of Google Maps and searching for the geographical area of ​​your interest (using the appropriate search field ), click on the button (≡) located at the top left and, in the menu that always appears on the left, do click on the wording Routes by bike (if the option is not selectable, it means that the area searched does not support the Google Maps function).

As you will be able to appreciate, the bike routes will be highlighted on the map with the dark green color. Convenient, right?