Cyclist pushes mapped bike paths
For drivers, Boston-area maps brim with detail -- one-way streets, highway entrance ramps, and in the case of MapQuest, the locations of Chuck E. Cheese's restaurants.
But what's often missing, avid bicyclist Bryce Nesbitt noticed, are features useful to those not behind the wheel: walkways, bike paths, T stations, shuttle bus stops, and pedestrian entrances to parks.
So Nesbitt, a volunteer for a Somerville physical fitness group, embarked on a self-styled crusade: to get mapmakers to show all those nondriving features correctly. He contacted 40 mapmakers, and five responded positively, which Nesbitt considers a good start.
"We're all bombarded with all sorts of advertisements and messages, but maps provide nice objective data, and they're a great way to get the word out about opportunities for physical activity," said Nesbitt, 35, an electrical engineer who lives in Cambridge.
Tourists can look at the more detailed maps and figure out they can walk or hop on the bus or subway to hit the sights, he said. Locals might discover there is secure bike parking available at the end of a multiuse path, and pedal to work one day instead of driving.
The quest to include bike paths and transit stations on maps has been maddening at times. Even when some map publishers include the information, there are often inaccuracies, Nesbitt said. A Rand McNally map of the Alewife section of Cambridge shows the Red Line station a quarter-mile from where it actually is; a rail line is shown nearby despite having been converted to a bike path years ago.
Nesbitt pored over every Boston-area map he could find looking for such miscues, as well as missing information on transit stations, pedestrian bridges, shortcuts, public stairs, multiuse paths, secure bike parking, walkable business districts, and recreational amenities such as playing fields, parks, and boathouses.
He then contacted 40 mapmakers and offered to help them include the details. One company, Hedberg Maps Inc., made some improvements based on Nesbitt's suggestions.
"In Boston, it's just like a no-brainer," said Nat Case, head of production for Hedberg Maps, which produces "Professor Pathfinder" maps. Walking and biking, he said, are "an integral part of how people navigate."
Paul Hein, a mapmaker with Jimapco State Maps, said his company also plans to add some of Nesbitt's suggested information. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority agreed to add connecting private shuttle bus information. The state's Geographical Information Systems mapping office consented to improve information on bike trails, contained in digital files used as a baseline by private mapmakers.
"It was sort of unique -- we don't usually get input from citizens," said Michael Trust, senior GIS database administrator for the state. Nesbitt, he said, "was familiar with GIS and was able to just send me files, with the corrections that I was able to incorporate."
The more common response from mapmakers, however, was silence or a polite no. Most said their maps were primarily for drivers.
"Adding bike or walking paths is not in our current focus, but we do take into account what consumers are saying, and who knows what the future holds," said Brian Hoyt, spokesman for MapQuest, a subsidiary of America Online. "We do think it's an area that's interesting, but the business we're trying to run is focused on vehicular transportation."
Nesbitt said he was disappointed that MapQuest would not consider at least adding the location of transit stations.
Joel Minster, senior vice president at Rand McNally, also said that the company's maps are primarily for businesspeople getting around by car.
"We conduct focus groups, looking for what types of information would be useful, but on every map there's a limited amount of space," he said. "For everything we put in, something has to come out. We make priority judgments in all the decisions we make."
Nesbitt, who volunteers for Somerville Active Living by Design, a group that promotes walking and biking, said he has not given up trying to change the car-oriented world of maps. His latest efforts have been concentrated on free tourist maps of the Boston area, though he vows to try to get the word out about bike paths and walkways for local residents as well.
"Tourists obviously look at maps when deciding where to go, what to do, and how to get there. But locals can be amazingly unaware of what's just a few blocks away from their house," Nesbitt said.
"My landlord in Cambridge lived at his house for 20 years but never found the path from the end of his street to the Charles River -- even though he drove to the Charles to jog or go boating. In 20 years, he never left his neighborhood except by car. People just have very set patterns, especially if they drive."
Anthony Flint can be reached at flint@globe.com 