News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Ok Google – it's time you discovered cyclists. Parent comment

Re:Ok Google – it's time you discovered cyclists by Fricken on Tuesday April 21, 2020 @11:30AM (#22935791)
A lot of cycling routes are obscure and labyrinthine, meaning you have to constantly check your phone to ensure you aren't lost. While riding, and in direct daylight I have to stop to be able to read the map. It ends up taking a lot of time. I wish cities were more clear about signage. I experienced obscure and labyrinthine bike routes in my own city, and I usually bring a bike with me when travelling to other cities and have experienced the same thing pretty much everywhere.

The thing I would much prefer is clear signage. The lack of it is common.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ok Google – it's time you discovered cyclists by simonbr on Tuesday April 21, 2020 @12:51PM (#22936706)
Totally! All too often cars have a direct route from point A to point B while cyclists have to wind through complicated, low-speed side roads with little or no signage to help.

That said, I think Portland has done a great job with the signage part of this problem. Signs like [1] are present at just about every intersection of bike routes, giving directions to neighborhoods and landmarks. And when a bike route dog-legs, directional "sharrow" symbols [2] are clearly visible on the road surface.

[1]: https://nacto.org/case-study/bikeway-network-signage-in-port...

[2]: https://nacto.org/publication/urban-bikeway-design-guide/bic...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ok Google – it's time you discovered cyclists by gregkerzhner on Tuesday April 21, 2020 @11:51AM (#22936045)
My favorite biking accessory is my Quadlock - https://www.quadlockcase.com/. Having my phone securely mounted on my handlebars is a game changer. If I want maps, I have those up. On longer rides, I have my phone playing music directly from the phone speaker which I actually like more than using headphones. I also have my heart rate monitor connected to my phone so I can see those stats if I want them. My bike feels like a Tesla with a touchscreen on it.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ok Google – it's time you discovered cyclists by gkolli on Tuesday April 21, 2020 @11:56AM (#22936094)
This looks really neat! How does screen brightness/battery life/sound quality compare whilst biking? Have been keen to try something like this.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ok Google – it's time you discovered cyclists by 8ytecoder on Tuesday April 21, 2020 @12:11PM (#22936247)
A battery pack case + Quad-lock is what I used to use. I got a Garmin for the battery life. But I didn't find that useful for navigation - slow and really hard to set destination and doesn't always pick the safest bike path (Google isn't great either but in my area it consistently chooses inner bike path over path that run through multi-lane roads).
[ Parent | on HN ]