GPS Navigating on a bike...?

[chpierce]

Hey anyone have any suggestions, Im new to the area (you might have remembered my last post, Montana Guy moving to PDX...) I have the NAVIGON software on my android phone, and that should work ok, but I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions. THanks~

[seriously]

Why would you use a GPS?

Bike route maps are free from most bike stores in Portland. A map does not require a battery and does not need to be recharged. You will learn the city more quickly by looking at and using a map.

When you are cycling you need to keep your eyes on the road and to pay attention to traffic. If you feel lost, pull over to the side of the road, pull out your map, check your route and then continue when it is safe to do so.

[Salty Dog]

I have an android phone as well and I'm familiar with the standard navigation software that it comes installed with.

I have to admit, it has occurred to me as well that I could put the speaker volume up to maximum, put the phone in my front pocket and let the robo-lady scream directions at me as I bike. I'm not sure what the OP's exact plans were, but I don't think it should be assumed he was planning on mounting his $300 smart phone to his handle bars.

Unfortunately although the navigation tool pulls info from google maps, and google maps has decent biking directions, the navigation tool excludes biking purposefully. You can get driving directions, you can get walking directions, but not biking. This is likely because google is afraid of exactly what seriously is, that there are people who would try biking in traffic while playing with the GPS tool on their phone at the same time.

You can use the maps tool on your phone to get biking directions based on your current location. If you're on a long and/or complicated route, you can just try to remember the next three turns and pull to the side and update your route whenever you are ready for the next three.

The bike route maps provided by the city are pretty excellent though, particularly because you can plot out the kind of route you are comfortable with. Ie. Longer but with bike lanes only. Google maps makes these decisions for you based on an algorithm of some sort. You can even request the maps, for free, from the Portland Department of Transportations website. I think mine took about two weeks to get here when I did that.

[keithwwalker]

Not navigation, but gps tracking for training, etc. works very well on Android with smartphone:
google mytracks

Here is a non-bicycle example, my climb of Mt. Hood (note the elevation is a bit off), but the location is spot on:
Mt Hood Climb

Note that it gives you an elevation profile as well. All I did was enable gps, put phone on airplane mode, put phone in backpack and then climbed. Brilliant, simple app, often thought it would be a good item to have if you got into an accident with a car and they lie about the circumstances of the wreck...

[dmc]

Streets run east and west.

Avenues run north and south.

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

Just a heads up in case your batteries run out.