SEATTLE—
Bicycling around hilly cities like Seattle just got a whole lot easier.A team of Google engineers in Fremont who work right next to the Burke-Gilman Trail have created a bike lane option to its online mapping software.
The new bicycling directions available on Google Maps supplement the guidance already provided to motorists and pedestrians and drivers.
The biking directions initially will be available only for the United States.
Google spent the past six months tweaking its mapping service so it could recommend routes that would steer bicyclists away from big hills and heavily congested streets. \
The feature can be used to pinpoint bicycling trails in more than 150 cities.
Bike directions already have been available on some smaller Web sites, but Google is the first major Internet mapping service provider to add the option.
Google's mapping service already is the most popular in the U.S., with more than 55 million visitors in February, according to comScore. MapQuest, owned by AOL Inc., ranked second with more than 36 million visitors.
