A friend gave me the heads up this morning that Google is announcing the addition of cycling directions to Google Maps. Very exciting!

It’s still in “beta,” which for Google could be a long time, so I’ll withhold full judgement. The first set of directions I requested, however, show there are some wrinkles to be ironed out.

When mapping a route from Sandwich to Woods Hole, I am directed to cycle through the Massachusetts Military Reservation, a definite no-no — more so since base security recently clamped down on recreational trespassers.

Here’s a screenshot of the map (you apparently cannot yet embed maps of cycling directions):

Google offers an alternate route, but it too traverses the base:

I’m not opposed to riding through the base. I wish base security would let road cyclists through. Generally speaking, road cycling ought not to conflict with military training. Once upon a time you could cut through MMR, so I have some experience on the roads there. If you were riding from Sandwich to Falmouth, you could easily avoid riding by any firing ranges.

For now, though, this is the route I would recommend, remapped thanks to Google Maps letting the user drag and drop points on the default route to a preferred course:

Criticism aside, a feature that I love is the assumption that a rider would prefer bike paths, so my remapped route includes both the Cape Cod Canal and Shining Sea bike paths with a minimum amount of effort. The LatLong blog explains some of the other features, including factoring hills into the algorithm.

Cyclists everywhere are going to have fun putting this Google Maps feature through its paces.