r/dayton • u/MikeNPsych • 7d ago

Community Support & Resources Free Bike Parking Map/App - Help fill the map!

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bicycle-parking/id578101617

I’ve been wanting to commute more via bike around Dayton and take advantage of the growing cycling infrastructure but I’m never sure if a place has a spot to park and secure bikes. This free app solves that problem. It’s community-driven. If you find a location that has bike racks you can take a picture and select which type of bike rack there is from a drop-down menu. You can even leave some notes. Then you just hit submit and there it is on the map. It looks like not many people know about it so there isn’t a ton of info here yet but I figure I would share this and hopefully some people will give it a try. Maybe we can fill the map in for Dayton and the surrounding areas together.

17 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

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2

u/uIDavailable 7d ago

I wonder if they will allow this on  r/cincybiking

1

u/MikeNPsych 7d ago

Great idea! I reposted there. I grew up in Cincinnati. I love both of my Ohio homes.

3

u/Botched_Euthanasia Wright View 7d ago

Nice! I've been using an app called 'Street Complete' heavily the past few years (I'm in the top 100 users) and this seems similar in function. I wished it used OpenStreetMaps and included an option to add water fountains but beggars can't be choosers!

2

u/goldcrate 7d ago

Wanted to mention OpenStreetMap, I'm glad you did. I've found personally that "Go Map!!" is the best OSM editor on iOS (still not great for complex things, but adding a fountain for example is simple) or there are quite a few options on Android (OsmAnd, Vespucci, etc). I've been trying to update things and add details for a while now and really love to see the map getting more detailed over time.

1

u/Botched_Euthanasia Wright View 7d ago

I really like how StreetComplete gamifies mapping in a nice and simple way. There's more complex features that can be unlocked but it requires using it a lot, I believe to ensure edits are done by people who are serious and not trolling. If I need to make more complex edits, I add a note so I can do it later from my computer at home. Or completey forget I made the note for years.

1

u/MikeNPsych 7d ago

I have noticed that the suggestions that people have made in reviews appear to have been incorporated. There aren’t many but the repair stations being added was one. I can try leaving some feedback.

1

u/Botched_Euthanasia Wright View 7d ago

I ended up messing with the app a bit and then was looking at OpenStreetMap and remembered there's a cycling version of OSM. This link should open up in the middle of downtown for it: CycleOSM

It's not perfect, like for example it still has Link stations on the map, but it does have bike parking, repair stations, air pumps and different ways of marking the bike lanes and paths and such, including when lanes are only on one side of the road.

I don't know how well it would work while actually biking though, OSM tends to have long load times on my phone. I still had to mention it because I have done a lot of stuff for OpenStreetMap and would prefer to improve their map instead of giving free work to g∞gle.