Announcing the Wichita Bike-Commuter Map project

A little inspiration: The très-cool logo for the NolaCycle Bike Map Project, a little bit about which below.

Some of you know that today is known as Bloomsday: on this day in 1904, the Irish novelist sets the action of his novel Ulysses. That novel describes the wanderings and adventures of one Leopold Bloom in a Dublin so carefully described, you could do a pretty substantive recreation of the city as it was on that day. Certainly, you could map it pretty well. It seems appropriate to me that the project I'm announcing here also involves maps and a city.

I am pleased to announce that Robert of River City Cyclist and I will begin to collect information that will lead to the production of a map of Wichita that will show information that those of us who travel in the city via bicycle--not just bike-commuters--tell us they find useful. But this begs the question: What do riders want and need to see in a map of the city? Established bike-paths and bike-lanes, to be sure, but what else? Recommended routes to shopping, schools, etc.? Information such as the wealth of information the NolaBike project shows (things like pavement conditions, traffic speed, dangerous intersections, etc.)?

To be honest, we don't want to presume--and besides, we hope this project will be at once a collective expression of the local cycling community and a node around which that same community can begin to define itself.

So: please e-mail us with maps of your routes, your suggestions for content, etc. You may reach me at "blogmeridian AT sbcglobal DOT net" or Robert at "robert AT rivercitycyclist DOT com"

Thanks in advance.

". . . and yes I said yes we will map our city Yes."