BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
The UK’s Bike Hub levy released a free iPhone bicycle journey planning app in October. This was later upgraded to become the world’s first vibrate&voice cycle satnav. Bike Hub funds have now enabled the creation of an app for Android phones. This is also free.
The Bike Hub Android app is published under the Travel & Local category in the Android Market Place. Unlike the iTunes App Store there is no web front-end for the Market Place so you can only see the listing from an Android device. Here’s how to download the app:
1. Open up the "Market" app on your Android device.2. Search the App Market for "Bike Hub"3. Download, install, and enjoy! Or you can use this link if you’re viewing from an Android device.
The Android app is a journey planner with multiple waypoints. It allows for the saving of ‘favourites’ and has a ‘More’ section with hard-coded articles on the Cycle to Work scheme, the law pertaining to cycling, and loads of quotes about cycling and bicycles.
Unlike the iPhone app, the Android app does not yet include the bike shop finder, events, news, or full-on satnav functionality. These will be included in an update in January.
For more info and screenshots of the new app go to BikeHub.co.uk.
The Bike Hub Android and iPhone apps use cycle-specific routing from Cyclestreets of Cambridge with fast/balanced/quiet routes plotted on the OpenCycleMap via the community-developed OpenStreetMaps.
