Map data updates

We pull the latest data from OpenStreetMap around once a month. The exact dates the data was downloaded are listed below: usually all edits until the previous day are included. Changes will show up on the map itself a day later, and be reflected in the routing two or three days after that.

Changelog

This summarises the principal changes in our map style and routing.

Routing, January 2020

• Australia and New Zealand coverage added
• Traffic data for Australia, New Zealand, and several French départements

Site, December 2019

• Performance improvements for both long-distance routing and cartography

Routing, October 2019

• Improve elevation accuracy
• Elevation graph aware of bridges and tunnels
• Improve turn instructions
• Route along bike-shuttle train services (e.g. Salzburg-Grado)

Site, October 2019

• Mapillary replaces Street View for Germany/Austria (and anywhere else on right/command-click)
• Self-service accommodation advertising

Cartography, September 2019

• Retina (high-resolution) map tiles

Site, July 2019

• Elevation graph on mobile map view

Routing, May 2019

• Permit routing along trunk roads in Baltic states
• Improve turn detection

Cartography, May 2019

• Dashed edges for unpaved roads in Europe
• Add Latin text for Cyrillic/Greek placenames
• Show airports and beaches
• Show mountain pass names
• Several other legibility improvements

Routing, spring 2019

• Paved-only routing mode
• Smarter turn detection, especially in cities and on cycleways
• Show road names when crossing major roads
• Increase penalties for crossing busy roads
• Improve elevation penalty on unpaved tracks
• Better London Quietways detection
• Adjust road weightings in US Midwest to favour roads with shoulders

Routing, 15 November 2018

• Added Scandinavia and Eastern Europe
• Added elevation for Mexico and Iceland
• Better handling of very steep roads

Cartography, 15 November 2018

• New hill-shading (North America)

Cartography, 25 September 2018

• New hill-shading (Europe)

Routing, 18 September 2018

• 'Go direct' between waypoints
• Improved hill sensitivity
• Better 'snapping' to start/end positions
• Many weighting improvements, particularly in urban areas

Site, 18 September 2018

• Show gradient when hovering over elevation profile
• GPX link that you can paste into apps

Site, 3 September 2018

• PDF cue-sheets
• Improve GPX/TCX download on iPhones

Routing, 25 July 2018

• Add Hungary and Slovakia
• Further improved urban weightings
• Note one-way roads where you need to push against the flow

Site, 25 July 2018

• Improve area selection in PDF maps
• Add numbers to each PDF map panel

Routing, 18 June 2018

• Improved weightings everywhere, but particularly urban areas (notably London), Midwest US, France
• More wary about crossing very busy roads
• Link to ferry operators' websites in directions
• Flag up seasonal roads in directions
• Improved TCX format export

Cartography, 18 June 2018

• Show road numbers for more minor roads in Europe
• Group bike parking together
• Make village names clearer

Routing, 29 April 2018

• More concise directions
• Fix with-flow cycleways on one-way roads

Routing, 1 March 2018

• Avoid private driveways
• Improve access parsing
• Improve surface parsing (particularly rural US and roadside pavements)
• Less likely to take marginal detours on tracks, service roads and car parks

Cartography, 1 March 2018

• Clearer maps at zoom levels 7-9
• Fix EuroVelo route display in France

Site, 1 March 2018

• Improve elevation export (.gpx/.tcx)
• Improve placename autocomplete

Routing, 9 December 2017

• Improved surface parsing for service roads (worldwide)
• Targeted data improvements in US Midwest
• Border crossings now shown in instructions

Site, 28 October 2017

• Option to add via points by typing a placename

Routing, 4 October 2017

• Include knooppunten ('cycle network nodes') in turn-by-turn directions
• Include mountain passes in turn-by-turn directions
• Improved weighting for unsurfaced roads
• Better handling of steps and stiles

Routing, 13 July 2017

• Go through the centre of small villages/towns

Site, 7 June 2017

• Organise routes within folders
• Improved excursion suggestions (overnights/pub and cafe rides)
• Make clicking the map to add points optional

Cartography, 4 June 2017

• Contour lines added for North America

Routing, 14 May 2017

• New logic to minimise off-then-back-on-again turns
• Further improve detection of busy roads

Cartography, 11 May 2017

• Unpaved major roads (North America) now shown as such
• Motorway colour (Europe) toned down
• EuroVelo route handling improved
• Numerous small fixes

Routing, 6 March 2017

• Road weightings in Spain greatly improved

Site, 4 January 2017

• Upload GPX tracks
• 3D elevation view
• OSM mapping tool: US comparison view

Routing, 3 November 2016

• Improved surface parsing from OSM data (worldwide)
• Improved one-way road parsing (worldwide)
• Changed weighting for several US bike routes
• Improved traffic weighting in US Midwest
• Targeted data improvements in US, particularly California

Cartography, 29 October 2016

• Major update to cartography focusing on greater legibility and less clutter, particularly in cities
• Cycle network nodes (knooppunten) shown in Belgium/the Netherlands
• New detailed zoom level (17) showing pub/cafe names etc.
• Cycle routes shown at different zoom levels in Belgium/the Netherlands to reduce clutter
• More green areas shown and labelled (parks etc.)
• Hillshading altered for smoother appearance
• Fixed rendering of some complex access scenarios, especially in North America
• More places of interest shown in Europe (restaurants, bicycle repair stations etc.)