Today, our friends at the Seattle Google office announced the addition of biking directions and extensivee bike trail data to Google Maps for the U.S.

With a nod to all the public support for adding biking directions, and the help of the Rails-toTrails Conservancy in collecting much of the necessary trail data, Google flipped the switch to allow users to receive directions by car, public transit, walking, or biking when planning trips on Google Maps.

The route planner considers bicycle facilities, topography, intersection quality, and traffic to plan directions. Detailed bicycle infrastructure information (bike lanes, boulevards, etc.) is available for about 150 cities in the U.S.

You can learn all about the many factors and variables taken into account on Google's Lat Long Blog. Or, for a quick 2-minute overview of using biking directions, watch this helpful video.