how sketchy is your bike commute?

[robinkraft]

Do you bike to work? Do you vary your route much to find the right balance of safety and efficiency? Are your friends scared to bike because they think it's too dangerous? Google Maps does nice bike routing, but I think it would be pretty cool if you could quantify the sketchiness of various routes, and find the one that fits your need for speed and appetite for risk.

I have a long bike commute, and some of the roads are very sketchy. But through trial and error, I've found decent bike paths most of the way. But it took a few weeks, and I definitely wasted time and took my life in my hands on some busy streets. It doesn't have to be that way!

Data

• Use the Google elevation or Mapbox's Surface API for elevation
• Use Google Maps or another service (preferably open source) for routing
• Use OpenStreetmap data to find bike paths, and judge the likely traffic of a road based on its size

Analysis

Create an index that represents the sketchiness of a bike commute, balancing elevation gain, safety, and speed (efficiency).

Visualization

Put this analysis on a map so that you can easily and quickly compare bike commute routes, or design one for a friend who's on the fence about using their bike to commute.