Hi,
I am looking for maps of the Washington DC area bike paths that I may take with me while I am riding. Do these exist? Or can I print them from some internet source? (I do not have portable electronic equipment., i.e. an i-phone, just my old-fashioned computer at my desk) THANKS, Samantha
Arlington and D.C. have printed maps. Not sure how to get them. Maybe it will say in the where to ride or maps sections on http://www.bikearlington.com.
pdf versions are there as well.
Also, you can use the “bicycling” feature on Google Maps.
DC, Arlington, Alexandria, and Fairfax County all have bike maps, both online and printed versions. You can usually get copies at WABA, BikeArlington, and other events in the area. I have also found them at the Metro Commuter Store in Rosslyn (but not always all of them). Both Montgomery County and Prince George’s County have online maps, but I have never run across a printed version, but I don’t spend much time in Maryland. I don’t see an overall map with the trails on the Prince George’s website. It doesn’t look like Loudoun County or Prince William have maps. Amazon sells some commercial maps geared towards cycling, but I haven’t looked at these in over ten years.
I’d recommend that you take the Capital Crescent Trail down to Georgetown. Then do most of your riding along the National Mall and on the Mt. Vernon Trail in Northern Virginia. Those are far more interesting than most of the Maryland bike trails. If you do that, then you’ll be fine with having just the D.C. and Arlington bike maps.
I picked up an Alexandria-area bike map at Al’s Steak House in Del Ray once. It was sitting off to the left corner. But they have all of this information online too as linked above. I just wanted the map to look at in case I wanted to use trails that I don’t know much about. I could also use my computer or phone though so I figured it was more to have something around. Either way, I’m positive the city has these maps somewere (presumbly at city hall).
The Arlington bike map can be found at any Arlington bike shop as well as Hudson Trail Outfitters at Pentagon Row.
The paper maps really got me into biking. I’d lived here for 10 years without realizing how many trails there were nor how they interconnected (and I only knew the roads I routinely drove). Since I have “dumb” phone, having a paper map on hand for long rides is invaluable.
Nope. Google maps just isn’t the same. It’s still got more errors, both cartographic and technology-related, than a paper map. I see errors all the time. Small, but significant, especially for a cyclist.
Mapmakers can’t just copy others – that’s a copyright violation, and they actually put a few little mistakes on their maps on purpose to catch violators. They have to go get the data from scratch. So older mapmakers using their own older maps usually have better ones.
P.S. I just found this interesting document – a list of Google Maps errors in Arlington, from our own map people. It’s 3 years old though, so probably many have been corrected.
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