Reading Time: 8 minutes
When I create cycling maps, I keep stumbling into the problem that Ottawa – Gatineau is so big. I can’t really get details of the area if I want to stick to an 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of paper. So I moved online and this winter I created a map with an Ottawa – Gatineau recreational cycling network. Zoom in or zoom out. Bonus fun feature, a network with numbered nodes. Read further.
It is already just over five years ago since I published my Ottawa bike map, styled as a subway map. The reactions were overwhelming. I got lots of positive comments, I was interviewed on the CBC by Stu Mills, people were even going to laminate the map for their apartment building entrance.
The reason why I created this subway style map at that time was partly just a burst of creativity in the COVID years, but also a way to show a cycling network, rather than pathways going from A to B. Why? Because I started to notice that people were not always aware of all the pathways we actually have. I wanted to show the bigger picture.
A European wayfinding system
While I was creating this map at that time, I was dreaming of a way finding system for our region like you can find in Belgium, the Netherlands, some parts of Germany and Denmark. I won’t go into the entire history now, but they created pleasant cycling route networks, and numbered the intersections, like the nodes in a network.
Recreational Focus
The recreational node network would guarantee that the route runs through lots of green space, either separated from traffic or on a quiet country road and yes, sometimes residential roads, perhaps passing a castle and an ice cream shop and if you are lucky a foot ferry or a patio on the water for a cold beer or coffee with apple pie in the cooler seasons.
You could also go to a website, click on the nodes on the map and somewhere else on the website the app would create a list of your nodes plus the total number of kilometers. I would not print out a list myself, but simply write down the numbers on a strip of paper; yet others would write the node numbers on their arm.
Directional signs for recreational cycling
On the road, you would find small signs with the intersection number, or sometimes a sign with an arrow directing you to the next node. Later you would be able to download the GPX file and transfer it to your bike computer or print out the map with the chosen nodes only.
The smart phone brought the whole nodes system to yet another level: you simply created the route on your cell phone and the integrated GPS would call out or show you where to go. But the smart phone also made the signs on the ground somewhat redundant if you look at it objectively. Yet, millions of people love the signs and those signs aren’t going anywhere. They have very much become part of the culture as tulips, windmills, cheese and cycling are.
Maze of green routes
Staring at those cycling networks on Dutch maps, I saw a maze of green routes and numbered nodes. In fact, there are over 10,000 nodes in the Netherlands on a recreational bike network of around 35,000 km long. The network is not necessarily all separated; many rural roads and even urban streets are part of the network.
A Capital Region bike network in ARCGIS
Looking at those online maps, I became inspired to create a somewhat similar on line map showing the most pleasant routes in our region too, with a focus on casual cycling tourism. I have always stuck to PDFs and GPX files of routes, but I thought this time I am going to bring it on line as a zoomable map in ARCGIS.
I wanted to visualise a cycling network in Ottawa – Gatineau that mostly consists of pathways and separate bike tracks, independent of whose land they are on. I did not want every single shoulder and neighbourhood shortcut because they clutter the map. In some instances, quiet residential routes are part of the network to connect loose ends though. Yet, without some kind of built in location tracker, it is not much of use. So it is mostly a fun exercise to show our recreational cycling network.
Adding numbered nodes
As I was creating the on line Ottawa-Gatineau cycling map, I thought it would be cool to add numbered nodes to the map too, like I mentioned above. This is obviously just a creative exercise on my side too, because we don’t have signs on the ground telling where those nodes actually are.
“But wait“, you say, “did you not just write that the signs are objectively not necessary anymore?” I did, but in its stead we would have to have a website that allows people to create their own route and download it. Which is a lot of work to build.
Here is the online Ottawa – Gatineau on line map
How to use it? On a mobile device: pinch or widen the map with your fingers. On a desktop: use the + and – buttons on the screen to zoom in or out, use the second button with the four arrows for full screen. Hold the left mouse button to drag the map.
If you want to see it in your browser, which I recommend, click here for a larger map. Be patient, it may take a few seconds to load the map and the routes. It will give you an idea of the entire Ottawa-Gatineau recreational cycling network, which in my opinion, we never show to the world.
What is expected from an online node network?
In order to be able to add route creation by the user, you would want to have the following functionality. (see the image above with the Dutch route network app)
- be able to click on each node
- add the node to a list automatically
- calculate the total distance between the nodes on the fly
- show the route on a map while you are clicking on it
- create a GPX to download for use
I am fairly sure lots of the software already exists in the open source community, but this goes all way over my head. I roughly understand how it should be built but I can’t build it, else I would have done it already. I did some research and I know you will need to add all the nodes to a map, even Open Street Map would do, with its GPS coordinates, and index each node with which direct neighbouring nodes it connects to and via which routes (road sections) and to what network it belongs to.
You don’t want to send people on that perfectly straight 80 km/h provincial highway shoulder, but on that cutesy wind mills laden curvy country road 2 km away from the highway instead. Than you also need something like the Leaflet software and other software to do all the server side stuff. So this is why it is conceptual only.
Enjoy the map and let me know what you think.
You may have questions about this map
How long is this network?
As it stands now, just over 300 km. There are many more kilometers, specifically rail to trail tracks that I have not added and several protected raised tracks that I didn’t add because they are dead ending (ie connecting to a busy arterial or to faded painted bike lanes on busy roads). If the authorities boosts 800 km of infrastructure, I am fairly certain it includes on road bike lanes and shoulders on rural roads.
Why are the node numbers only two digits?
In Europe they use two or three digit numbers. This is because it would get to unwieldy and probably harder to read for certain people: 54316 or 67776 just doesn’t read the same as 23 or 47. The maps are regionally organised and managed. You will notice that two same numbers from different networks will never be positioned next to each other. A network has a maximum of 99 nodes (1-99) and each network has a name. I created a network in Ottawa and a network in Gatineau. In our case, the Almonte area could have their own regional network, as could Chelsea and Wakefield.
Why are there different numbers on each side of a bridge and sometimes not in other similar places?
Good question and I wondered about that too. It looks like that depends partly on the interpretation by a regional office. Sometimes the nodes are very close together and they are considered one node, sometimes a bridge might be longer (like the ones across the Ottawa River) and has networks on both sides.
How do you call a bike node sign manufacturing plant manager in German?
That would be a Fahrradknotenpunktschilderproduktionsgebäudeleiter
Why is not every bit of cycling infra on your map?
I left out the pieces that are connected at one end only as well as ‘free standing MUPS’ that don’t connect to the network. A good example is Churchill, where the bike tracks dead ends for cyclists on Carling at a sign telling you to ‘walk your bike’. I don’t want Carling to be part of the network. You can also see for example for now, there is no node at the east end going to Orleans, and it is just a curve. If I expand the network map, there would be a node in the top right corner along the Ottawa river.
Why are the outer suburbs not on your map?
I am planning to expand the map and add some features, but the cycling networks are not greatly developed in the outer suburbs. Eventually I would like to add them, but there is not enough yet to make for connected nodes. I need to study those areas first. We could have built awesome bike networks in new developments in the last say 15-20 years, but we opted not to do so. And remember: one straight line in and out is not a network.
How does the Trans Canada trail fit in?
The Trans Canada Trail is a bit of an oddity in Ottawa as it uses already existing infrastructure like the Ottawa River Pathway. I am hoping to add some features in the future as I am learning what ARCGIS can do (in the free version 😀). I am thinking of an overlay you could switch on or off for example.
You are not always consistent, is that on purpose?
Yes that is on purpose, because I am figuring out myself what the theories behind a cycling network are (and went down some rabbit holes).
More recent posts about cycling in the Netherlands
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A Bicycle Shed in Your Front Yard
Reading Time: 4 minutesCycling through Dutch towns, I started to notice more and more bike sheds in front yards. Back home, I took a look at the Dutch rules for building them and they are pretty relaxed about them. Let’s see how they look like and what is allowed.
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You can now see the ‘Fietsberaad’ website in Canada
Reading Time: 2 minutesFor the longest time we were not able to access two important Dutch cycling websites, but this has now changed. And you can sign up for their newsletter.
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Dutch health experts increasingly vocal about helmet use
Reading Time: 6 minutesDutch authorities are increasingly worried about the rise in traffic deaths among seniors on e-bikes. They would like to see Dutch seniors and children starting to wear helmets. That’s not an easy task.
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Escape from Amsterdam: Zutphen
Reading Time: 4 minutesMost of the cycling images you see on social media are from the western part of the Netherlands. But let me take you to a much more laid back part of the Netherlands.
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Cat eye lights built into a road (with video)
Reading Time: 2 minutesRecently I was driving and cycling in the Netherlands and I noticed a very cool and cheap safety solution: cat eyes in the road.
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A boat and bike trip in the Netherlands
Reading Time: 10 minutesBoat and Bike tours are popular in Europe. We tried it for a few days and were positively impressed: while you travel, your hotel travels with you.
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