Originally Posted by
jefnvk
I think cycle routing is MUCH harder than routing for cars, where people generally only care about shortest distance or shortest time. Personal preferences are much different in a cycle route than easily computable facts.
Yes. It's harder.
Routes for motor vehicles are easier to map (one just has to drive on them).
The roads that tend to be preferred for routing for driving (highways) are the easiest to map (and cyclists can't usually use them).
The market for motor vehicle routes is also much larger (more lucrative) and there's more competition.
Motor vehicles don't care (too much) about hills. They don't care (too much) if a route is not quite as short as it could be (few drivers would really care if a route is a few miles longer).
Cyclists generally have a wider range of purposes (leisure/exercise/transport) and preferences than drivers (drivers generally want the shortest/fastest route).
There are lots of roads that drivers have no problems using but cyclists would, very much, not want to use.