Elevation contour maps

Quoted message said:

As I was riding to work in the relatively flat Chicago area this
morning, it occured to me that a very useful website would provide
best bike routes (low car traffic) similar to MapQuest but also
include contour gradient data to choose the easiest route. We all go
through the process of trying this street and trying that street until
the choice becomes obvious. When the oil runs out and we'll all be
riding bikes, this information will be useful.

Does anything like this exist?

Gmaps pedometer will do an elevation profile for you, but that is course
not what you want. Nothing currently does what you want, though I do
know of a couple bike-oriented projects that may change that. It's all
pretty nebulous though.

Currently the best way to do it is to go ride bikes and compare routes
with other people who ride bikes.

--
Dane Buson - [email hidden]
You first parents of the human race... who ruined yourself for an apple,
what might you have done for a truffled turkey?
-- Brillat-savarin, "Physiologie du Gout"

[email hidden] wrote in news:1180980620.014291.314710
@n4g2000hsb.googlegroups.com:

Quoted message said:

As I was riding to work in the relatively flat Chicago area this
morning, it occured to me that a very useful website would provide
best bike routes (low car traffic) similar to MapQuest but also
include contour gradient data to choose the easiest route.

Some city bike route maps have hill (and lane width and traffic) information.
You have to create the route yourself from that data, based on your comfort
level with hills (and narrow lanes and traffic).

sally said:

[email hidden] wrote in news:1180980620.014291.314710
@n4g2000hsb.googlegroups.com:

Quoted message said:

As I was riding to work in the relatively flat Chicago area this
morning, it occured to me that a very useful website would provide
best bike routes (low car traffic) similar to MapQuest but also
include contour gradient data to choose the easiest route.

Some city bike route maps have hill (and lane width and traffic)
information. You have to create the route yourself from that data,
based on your comfort level with hills (and narrow lanes and traffic).

RELATIVELY flat Chicago?

Lowest point: 176 m
Highest point: 224 m
That "highest point" isn't even a natural hill. It's an old trash dump on
the south side, just east of I-94 and south of 103rd. That's the one with a
golf course on the top of it.

It doesn't get much flatter than that, no matter who your relatives are 😉

I've been using Veloroutes.org lately and they have a 'sort of'
elevation feature. There's a readout at the top of the map that reads
elevation for each point you click on. After you've completed input of
your route, you can click on a 'get elevations' tab (or something like
that) and it will generate a graph of the elevations along the route.
Not perfect but it'll give you at least some idea...
The more way-points you click along your route the more accurate
the graph will be.

Keith

Quoted message said:

As I was riding to work in the relatively flat Chicago area this
morning, it occured to me that a very useful website would provide
best bike routes (low car traffic) similar to MapQuest but also
include contour gradient data to choose the easiest route. We all go
through the process of trying this street and trying that street until
the choice becomes obvious. When the oil runs out and we'll all be
riding bikes, this information will be useful.

Does anything like this exist?

Bill

The DeLorme Printed maps of Illinois have every street in the state,
and 30 ft elevation marks. Not much difference for a car, but a good
hill (bicycle wise) could be hidden without a a 30 ft elevation line
being crossed. I like the http://Bikely.com route drawing site.

Bill said:

As I was riding to work in the relatively flat Chicago area this
morning, it occured to me that a very useful website would provide
best bike routes (low car traffic) similar to MapQuest but also
include contour gradient data to choose the easiest route. We all go
through the process of trying this street and trying that street until
the choice becomes obvious. When the oil runs out and we'll all be
riding bikes, this information will be useful.

Does anything like this exist?

See:
http://www.topozone.com/viewmaps.asp

Art Harris

You'll be starting in one place, and eventually ending up back at that
same place.
Why do I keep thinking of the stories our parents told us about when
they walked
to school it was up hill both ways?

Vin - Menotomy Vintage Bicycles
http://OldRoads.com

Art Harris said:

Bill said:

As I was riding to work in the relatively flat Chicago area this
morning, it occured to me that a very useful website would provide
best bike routes (low car traffic) similar to MapQuest but also
include contour gradient data to choose the easiest route. We all go
through the process of trying this street and trying that street until
the choice becomes obvious. When the oil runs out and we'll all be
riding bikes, this information will be useful.

Quoted message said:

Does anything like this exist?

See:http://www.topozone.com/viewmaps.asp

Art Harris

OldRoads said:

You'll be starting in one place, and eventually ending up back at that
same place.

Tell that to the folks who have climbed Mt. Everest.

Art Harris

Bill,

In google earth, wherever you place the pointer the elevation is
displayed on the screen. I found this much easier than using toponet
as mentioned above.

You can just mouse over your route to find significant changes in
elevations. You can then record the elevation at given waypoints
(every few miles or so). If you do this in a program like MS Excel
you can create an elevation profile of your route very easily with
mileage along the x-axis and elevation along the y-.

I'm planning a trip in Idaho and wyoming for sept, and doing this has
helped me identifiy better (less steep) alternative routes.

Cheers,

Craig

OldRoads said:

You'll be starting in one place, and eventually ending up back at that
same place.
Why do I keep thinking of the stories our parents told us about when
they walked
to school it was up hill both ways?

Well it really was the fact that the wind changed from NE to SW during
the day. I rode to and from school in a head wind.

Of course the 12 ft snow drifts etc were an exageration. They seldom
exceeded 6 ft.

John Kane, Kingston ON Canada

Quoted message said:

Vin - Menotomy Vintage Bicycleshttp://OldRoads.com

Art Harris said:

Bill said:

As I was riding to work in the relatively flat Chicago area this
morning, it occured to me that a very useful website would provide
best bike routes (low car traffic) similar to MapQuest but also
include contour gradient data to choose the easiest route. We all go
through the process of trying this street and trying that street until
the choice becomes obvious. When the oil runs out and we'll all be
riding bikes, this information will be useful.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Does anything like this exist?

Quoted message said:

See:http://www.topozone.com/viewmaps.asp

Quoted message said:

Art Harris

Quoted message said:

Bill,

In google earth, wherever you place the pointer the elevation is
displayed on the screen. I found this much easier than using toponet
as mentioned above.

You can just mouse over your route to find significant changes in
elevations. You can then record the elevation at given waypoints
(every few miles or so). If you do this in a program like MS Excel
you can create an elevation profile of your route very easily with
mileage along the x-axis and elevation along the y-.

I'm planning a trip in Idaho and wyoming for sept, and doing this has
helped me identifiy better (less steep) alternative routes.

Cheers,

Craig

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try it. Bill