Comments on: I’ll drive. You Nagrivate. http://evamoon.net/blog/2007/07/28/ill-drive-you-nagrivate/ Music, Musings & Mischief Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:15:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Dreah http://evamoon.net/blog/2007/07/28/ill-drive-you-nagrivate/#comment-1235 Dreah Sun, 29 Jul 2007 17:22:52 +0000 http://evamoon.net/blog/2007/07/28/ill-drive-you-nagrivate/#comment-1235 As those who have toured Seattle from the driver's seat, we can sympathize with your plight. When I moved to the San Francisco Bay area in 2005, I became Google Map's best customer. Prior to each sojourn into The City or across the bay, you could find me at the 'puter, slowly scrolling across detailed maps, alternating with Satellite View, and taking copious notes. The non-freeway approaches to the Bay Bridge still cause me headaches. Like most large cities, San Francisco can become a maze of one-way streets and oblique intersections to the uninitiated, and woe be unto the hapless wanderer who stumbles upon a street closed for maintenance or an accident. And if you ask a local for directions, the response is very likely to include a BART or MUNI trip. The limitations of Google Maps became painfully clear, however, the first time I planned a bicycle trip from Brisbane to Haight-Ashbury. I have communicated with Google suggesting that they need a button that switches to "bicycle directions" -- which would exclude freeways and 45° inclines -- to no avail. (Fortunately, I found a bike shop in the Haight that sells bicycle tour maps of The City, complete with topological info.) I can now direct you on the best routes with the least amount of variation in the Z-axis to most places on the peninsula, but those early times were quite a cardio-pulmenary adventure. As those who have toured Seattle from the driver’s seat, we can sympathize with your plight. When I moved to the San Francisco Bay area in 2005, I became Google Map’s best customer. Prior to each sojourn into The City or across the bay, you could find me at the ‘puter, slowly scrolling across detailed maps, alternating with Satellite View, and taking copious notes. The non-freeway approaches to the Bay Bridge still cause me headaches. Like most large cities, San Francisco can become a maze of one-way streets and oblique intersections to the uninitiated, and woe be unto the hapless wanderer who stumbles upon a street closed for maintenance or an accident. And if you ask a local for directions, the response is very likely to include a BART or MUNI trip.

The limitations of Google Maps became painfully clear, however, the first time I planned a bicycle trip from Brisbane to Haight-Ashbury. I have communicated with Google suggesting that they need a button that switches to “bicycle directions” — which would exclude freeways and 45° inclines — to no avail. (Fortunately, I found a bike shop in the Haight that sells bicycle tour maps of The City, complete with topological info.) I can now direct you on the best routes with the least amount of variation in the Z-axis to most places on the peninsula, but those early times were quite a cardio-pulmenary adventure.

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