Originally Posted by
livedarklions
Out of curiosity, do you have a cite for google using analytics on bike times? I ask because every time I do the math, it seems to be predicting 11 mph whether it's hilly single track or smooth road with a downhill slope.
I get different times for bike trips depending on the time of day, and it varies with the number of stop lights, elevation changes, and apparently other factors. The route times differ from one direction and the other direction.
Google has also occasionally notified me that my commute would take longer than usual - giving me a number, 35 minutes for example - clearly already knowing that I'll be taking my bike, what route I'll take and how long it takes me. Google location history can tell me whether I biked, drove or walked on specific trips so it's obvious, to me, that they analyze my movements and patterns.
Google doesn't publish their specific algorithms that I know of, but they most definitely calculate trip times dynamically. The bike trip predictions appear to me to work just like the driving trip predictions, Google has all the data they need for it*, and I've seen no indications that they don't. I'd say I'm 90%-95% certain of it.
*there might be more biking data in my area, and not enough for more than some kind of default calculation on the routes you checked.