Cycling website to encourage off-road biking

A map of Edinburgh’s cycle paths will be launched at the end of this month to promote off-road routes.

The Edinburgh Inner Tube map will closely resemble the London Underground map and uncover 100 kilometres of bike routes in the city. The cycling map will be printed on paper and also available online.

Acclaimed Scottish journalist Tom Allan will manage the Edinburgh Inner Tube website. Speaking about his job, he said: "My role will be to create a social media version of the map. We're going to have ten volunteer ambassadors who will each be charged with different routes. I'll be training them to use social media tools like blogging, tweeting and podcasting and also multimedia tools using a 3G mobile phone."

The website will allow members of the public to see a real time evolution of the traffic and to foresee problems they may encounter on their biking route. Users will be able to post comments, images and videos on the website from their mobile phones and they will be automatically geotagged.

By allowing users to participate and contribute ideas and problems with cycling routes, it adds a revolutionary element to the project.

The cycle network website was granted £98,100 from the People's Postcode Lottery. The funding comes at a time when ecological behaviours and social networks are important and the project incorporates both concepts. It encourages bike owners to interact with other cyclists and suggest alternative routes which avoid peak time or on-road traffic.

Mark Sydenham, manager of the Bike Station and project initiator, said:

"Without the support of the People's Postcode Lottery, it would just be us making maps and giving them out and that would be that. We want this to be a whole lot more dynamic and long-term and to evolve into something even better."

Mike Pringle, the MSP for Edinburgh South, was delighted with the project, saying:

"The Bike Station is a great community organisation in my constituency, which has been going for a considerable number of years, and as a result of its workers' enthusiasm and initiative has probably done more for Edinburgh than anybody else to promote the use of bicycles and bike usage in the city.”