Free Route Map Programs?
 

I ordinarily figure out my route around town by trial and error, but I need some assistance for a trip I've got to take today which is quite a bit longer. Maybe it's a little late in the game for this, but is there any free program that will help me map out a good bike commuting route? Well, is there any program that people recommend?

I like bikely.com, it's got trails on the software too which make it handy if you're route takes you on trails. You can also route through parking lots etc... if you're route goes through them, or use the follow the road feature. mapmyride wasn't working well enough to use it when I needed to use one of these programs, but there are folks that use that and like it. Bikely has lists of routes for different areas, you might find someone who's already been to wherever you plan on going and has already blazed that trail.

mapmyride.com , without a doubt.

For narrowing down your route choices, I like Google Maps set to Terrain View (see the button in the top right corner). Zoomed in all the way, it shows contour lines every 40 feet. You can get a good overview of how hilly a route is, with the shading and the spacing between contour lines.

I just tried bikely. It works great for routes on the road, but not on bike paths. More than half my commute is on the Erie canal towpath trail, but that route isn't on bikely maps. Mapmyride allows you to draw a route anywhere.

Bikely does, with patience. You kind of have to know where the paths are. We have a site here that someone put together outlining all the MUPs on google maps, so it makes it pretty easy.

Make sure you uncheck "Follow the Road" when you start drawing.

That was the problem.

I took me a few maps to figure that one out.

I like veloroutes (http://veloroutes.org/) but if you're concerned with your elevation change make sure you put the points really close together when you're mapping your route - I did two versions of different commuting routes a few months ago, and while the distance was pretty consistent, spreading out the points resulted in missing hundreds of vertical feet of elevation change.