Five years of blogging on Transform to Sustainability

Without realizing it, the 5-year anniversary of my original blog passed by last month.  Since then I have posted 368 posts here.  Many of these have also been featured on other blogs, including:

• Greater Greater Washington
• CommuterPage.com
• Arlington's AIRE blog
• Sustainable Cities Collective

So what has been popular?  Below is the list of my all time top ten blogs by number of views:

• Our Camry hybrid (sixth post) - Documenting the fuel efficiency benefits of our new tires (preceded by five other posts about our car, obviously)
• Another solution to reducing auto accidents - If we drive less, we have fewer crashes

Google adds skateboard directions to Google Maps

Google announced today that it will be adding skateboarding directions to its currently available driving, walking, transit and biking directions. Simply click on the new icon that appears on the Google Directions page as shown below.

(Just in case - this was an April Fools post)

Monday What's on the Web: Climate Signals

Each Monday I highlight other bloggers or web contributors who are making important or interesting contributions to climate, sustainability, transportation or market transformation. Check back each week for another installment.

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Climate Signals is an innovative database that uses social media to collect large volumes of very current information and studies related to climate change.  Anyone can participate; there is an instructional video describing how to do so.

What makes Climate Signals such a useful site is that the large network is constantly updating the site with the absolute latest and most current information on climate change.  It's more current and through even than Google or Google News in my opinion.  I use what I find there to help me keep my Twitter account current.  Here is a sample of stories and reports collected from a single day (January 19, 2010).

Growing season now 12 days longer over Northern Hemisphere

Warming due to loss of snow and ice twice as strong as estimated

Open water on Hudson Bay at year’s end for the 1st time on record

As with most well-designed sites, there are good keyword and search functions that help the user drill down to what they are looking for.  Definitely keep this site bookmarked.

Monday What's on the Web: Shareable

Each Monday I highlight other bloggers or web contributors who are making important or interesting contributions to climate, sustainability, transportation or market transformation. Check back each week for another installment.
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 Shareable is a blog that studies the societal and economic opportunities that arise out of networks of sharing.  Sharing has become a more talked-about topic of late, and there are more and more companies offering sharing products and services, including Zipcar, B2B Rentals (apartments), Bikesharing, Wikipedia and others. 
Media has also been covering it, including Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal,  and the New York Times.

This is the kind of idea that will help us Transform to Sustainability, the name of this blog and the idea that major and transformative changes are needed to create a sustainable future. Why does every house need a lawnmower for use about 30-40 hours per year?   Or a power drill that might be used 3-4 times a year or less.  The amount of "stuff" that is created just to sit around mostly unused can be viewed as a tremendous resource, and Shareable is looking how that resource is being deployed and exploited.

Recent blogs include:
Google Invests in P2P Carsharing Service, RelayRides
The New Mutual Credit
Is Sharing Contagious?

Personally, I belong to Zipcar and Capital Bikeshare, and I have used B2B Rentals when traveling.  I'd love to jettison more of my seldom-used stuff if I knew I had access to shareable resources when needed.  Check it out: Shareable.net.

Google Bike Directions: Part 2

Yesterday I blogged the story of using Google biking directions to travel from my house in Arlington VA to a friend's house in Springfield VA using Google bicycling directions to help me navigate.

My second trip was to travel from this same friend's house in Springfield to the Whole Foods in Vienna. Unlike the first trip above, in which I was familiar with the first part of the route (and could adjust based on my knowledge), in this case I was completely dependent on the Google directions. I had never ridden in this area before.

In this case, the directions proved to be excellent, with one exception. The implementation of the directions presented some problems, but the actual route worked almost perfectly--taking me along mostly back streets and some trail connectors right to my destination. The major obstacles in this case were Route 50 and I-66. The crossing at Route 50 actually turned out to be better than expected, because there was a trail connector that Google Maps was unaware of that I noticed when I reached the intersection of Pickett Road and Arlington Blvd. I-66 was crossed on Vaden Drive, a back street that crosses the Interstate with no interchange.

The biggest problem presented by Google biking directions is that trail signage is typically so poor--or not designed the way street signage is--that it presents challenges for giving and following directions. At every single intersection of two streets, there is a street sign. It was simple to follow the directions: Turn right at XXYZ St. or left at ABBC St. At each of these points, I was virtually 100% confident that I was following the directions as indicated. However, each time I had to travel on a trail, I lost confidence, because the trails did not have signs like the streets. On this trip, even the trails with signs had different names than what Google indicated them as. The most disconcerting part was when I was traveling along a trail and would encounter an intersection or fork in the trail. Google does its best, but without any signage, it just states "Turn left toward Vaden Dr." or the like. If the cyclists doesn't know where the named street is, then there is no way of knowing what those directions mean. Thankfully it was a sunny day, so I could at least tell what direction I was going and could correlate that with the line on my map.

Google biking directions is a good tool for cyclists. If jurisdictions would now please put up signage that will help cyclists navigate those directions, it would make the tool work much better.

Google Bike Directions: Part 1

Last week I had a couple of opportunities to try out Google's bicycling directions to travel to places I had never gone before. My experience with the directions was mostly positive, guiding me along routes that for the most part worked well. The problem of poor trail signage (not Google's fault), however, could have caused a cyclist to become temporarily lost. Here's the story.

I wanted to travel to a friend's house who lives just off Braddock Road in Springfield VA about one mile west of the Capitol Beltway (I-495). I live in Arlington VA not far from Seven Corners, about 8 miles away. I had never been to my friend's house before, so I asked Google to give me cycling directions there. What I look for in the directions is how it overcomes the major obstacles, in this case, Route 50 and the Beltway were two major roads I had to cross. Google did not have me cross Route 50 at the new pedestrian overpass at Seven Corners, which I think is a better option than what it showed me. It did, however, have me cross the beltway at the pedestrian overpass that is north of Braddock Road about 1/2 mile, which is definitely the best option. All in all, the directions were not bad. A less experienced cyclist might have found some of the roads--particularly Braddock Road--a bit daunting to ride on. However, the directions worked for getting me there.

All in all, Google biking directions is a useful tool, and I expect it will become more useful over time as Google--and users--improve it.

Walking Directions from Google

Google Maps has introduced its walking directions--currently in Beta. When you select directions you are given the choice in a drop-down menu of "By car" or "Walking."

Google has taken on a gargantuan task, in my opinion. The enormous number of shortcuts available to savvy walkers is virtually infinite: plazas, alleys, cut-through buildings, pathways, etc. Then there is the opposite problem--places where a map indicates a street or road, but that would be either impossible or unsafe to walk. How they will sort that all out is going to be interesting to watch.

For instance, I tested out the directions from my house to the Ballston Mall (I live just off I-66 about a mile east of the East Falls Church metro). The shortest and most pleasant way for me to get there on foot (or bike) is on the Custis trail, but Google Maps doesn't know the Custis Trail exists, so it routed me along Washington Blvd., adding about 1/2 mile to the distance. Maps.ask.com, which also provides walking directions also did not indicate the trail.

I think this is a great idea, though, and I hope Google and ask.com are successful at making this service accurate and useful. Try it out for yourself.