'Street view for cyclists' expands to Berlin
Cyclodeo, the crowdsourcing website nicknamed ‘Google Street View for bike lanes' has launched in Berlin, as the Dutch start-up branches out throughout the US and Europe.
The site lets users preview cycle paths all over the world, thanks to a combination of map technology and video footage recorded from cyclists' helmets which is then uploaded online.
Cycling fans can visualize their route in advance, calculate distance and speed and work out the safest, quickest or most scenic route to their destination using the service.
Founded in 2012 by French entrepreneur Samir Bendida, Cyclodeo has gone from strength to strength and now features thousands of miles of route footage from San Francisco, London, New York, Amsterdam, Eindhoven and Copenhagen.
Over 200 km of cycle routes have just been unveiled in Berlin, including picturesque routes through the popular Alexanderstrasse and Friedrichstrasse neighborhoods.
Riders can contribute data to the site by attaching a video camera to their bike and activating a GPS tracker on their phone, allowing Cyclodeo to create a geo-tagged route.
The news comes in the same week that Google Maps for mobile has unveiled elevations charts on its routes, allowing cyclists to estimate hilly inclines along their journeys.
