Cycle routes
 Feature: Cycle routes
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| Description |
| Cycle routes are named or numbered or otherwise signed routes, which may go along roads, trails or dedicated cycle paths. |
| Tags |
Bicycle routes or bike routes.
Rendered Cycle Maps
Just looking for bicycle maps and bike maps?
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| Lonvia's Cycling Map by Sarah Hoffman is an overlay which shows marked cycle routes around the world. It is updated daily. |
Tagging cycle route networks
Three levels of hierarchy are currently in use: national, regional, and local. Routes may be marked by tagging each way according to the following table. For an alternative using relations that will also be rendered on the cycle map, see Relations/Routes#Cycle routes (also mountain bike).
It is often better to use relations to tag cycle routes rather than the tags in this table (see below for the relation tagging scheme). But please check that a relation doesn't already exist before creating one.
| Tag | Element | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ncn=yes |  |
Designates that a road or path is part of a National Cycling Network route. |
| ncn=proposed | |
Designates that a road or path is part of a proposed National Cycling Network route. |
| rcn=yes / proposed | |
As above, but for regional cycle routes. |
| lcn=yes / proposed | |
As above, but for local cycle routes. |
| ncn_ref=number | |
A national cycle route, where number is the route number. ncn=yes is implied |
| rcn_ref=number | |
A regional cycle route, where number is the route number. rcn=yes is implied |
| lcn_ref=number | |
A local cycle route, where number is the route number. lcn=yes is implied |
route=ncn was previously used, but is currently deprecated due to clashing with other routes that may share the same way.
Tagging cycle node networks
Cycle node networks (for example look here) are common in the Netherlands and Belgium, but not in the UK. In contrast to the standard cycle route networks, where the path has a reference number, in a cycle node network the junctions are numbered. Signs along the way indicate the junction you are heading towards, so a given path will have a sign pointing in one direction indicating "1" and in the other direction indicating "4".
We use the same tags, but apply the reference numbers to the junction nodes. The same principles could in principle be used for national and local cycle node networks, but currently regional is in main use in both Belgium and The Netherlands.
| Tag | Element | Description |
|---|---|---|
| rcn=yes | |
Designates that a road or path is part of a Regional cycle node network |
| rcn_ref=number |  |
Designates that the node represents a numbered junction in the regional cycle node network |
Please refer to the pages below for country specific details:
An expanded way of tagging cycle node networks, which is currently already being employed in parts of Belgium and The Netherlands, is described at Cycle Node Network Tagging.
Relations
It is preferred to tag the cycle routes using relations instead of tagging the ways. But please check that a relation doesn't already exist for your chosen route before creating one. (Relations are often listed on pages such as WikiProject United Kingdom National Cycle Network.)
The tags on the relation are slightly modified from the standard tags. An example cycle route relation would have the following tags:
| Tag | Comment |
|---|---|
| type=route | |
| route=bicycle/mtb | See mountainbike for details on tagging mountainbike routes. |
| network=icn/ncn/rcn/lcn | Specify the network as an international route, a national route, a regional route, or a local route, as per the normal tagging of cycle routes. For tagging mountainbike routes more specific look here mountainbike |
| ref=number | (optional) NCN, RCN, and LCN references work best on the map if just the number is used, so for NCN 4: "4". The network tag correctly distinguishes the type, so just use "ref" and not "ncn_ref" or similar. |
| name=* | (optional) The name of the route e.g. Jubilee Cycle Way |
| state=proposed | (optional) Routes are sometimes not official routes pending some negotiation or development -- the cycle map renders these routes dotted. |
| distance=distance in km | (optional) The distance covered by a route in km |
| ascent=ascent in m | (optional) The ascent covered by a route in meters. If a route has start and end point at different altitude use descent too |
| descent=descent in m | (optional) The descent covered by a route in meters. Use it only if it differs from the ascent (different altitude at start/endpoint of a route). |
| roundtrip=yes/no | (optional) Use roundtrip=no to indicate that a route goes from A to B. Use roundtrip=yes to indicate that the start and finish of the route are at the same location (circular route). |
Relation role: Cycle routes sometimes have different paths depending on the direction you are travelling. In this case, ways in the relation should have a role of forward or backward as described in Relation:route#Members. The direction is rendered on the cycle map (example).
Mountainbike routes
- See Mountainbiketours for cycle routes that are primarily for mountainbikes.
- Additionally, have a look at the Mountainbike portal for tagging guidelines to ways suitable for mountainbiking.
Usage
Since the tagging is generic, it is up to each country to decide how to map the cycle networks that exist in their country onto the hierarchy of national/regional/local.
Transnational
EuroVelo
The EuroVelo (wikipedia) network consists of 13 routes, with a total distance of 72,978 km, developed by the European Cyclists' Federation. The route references are in the format EVxy, e.g. EV12 for the North Sea Cycle Route.
See the European Wikiproject EuroVelo for further details.
Australia
Western Australia
See: Western Australia
Austria
See: WikiProject Austria/Radwege
Belgium
See the Belgian cycle route conventions and their project page for full details.
Baltic States: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia
The project BaltiCCycle.eu collects all information on cycling in the Baltic States (BaltiCCycle.eu_Routes)including the International Routes EuroVelo, R1, Iron Curtain Trail, the National Cycling Routes in Estonia (EstoVelo)
Canada
- Fr:Route verte (Québec)
Czech Republic
Denmark
See: DK:Bicycle/Network-Routes
France
Finland
See: Fi:Valtakunnalliset pyörämatkailureitit
Germany
See DE:Bicycle/Fahrradroutensammlungen for overview of German cycle route collections.
Hungary
See WikiProject Hungary/Kerékpárút for overview of Hungarian cycle route collections.
Iceland
See WikiProject Iceland/Cycleways for an overview of Icelandic cycle routes and ways.
Italy
See WikiProject Italy/Ciclovie for an overview of Italian cycle route collections.
Netherlands
Zie: Fietsroutes.
Slovakia
See Slovak Cycling Routes for full details.
Spain
See Spanish Cycling Network for full details.
Sweden
See Swedish Cycling Network for full details.
Switzerland
See Swiss Cycle Network and Swiss Mountain Bike Network for full details.
United Kingdom
Note: CycleStreets is a major user of cycling-related data in the UK area. Information on its [interpretation of tags] may be of interest (and the developers strongly welcome feedback on this).
| Network | Tagging | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Sustrans' National Cycle Network National routes (red numbers). See WikiProject United Kingdom National Cycle Network for a list and to see if a relation has already been set up. References shouldn't be given a prefix i.e. use 54 and not N54. Don't forget to map the mileposts too - see WikiProject_United_Kingdom_Sustrans_Mileposts. | Add to an existing relation or create a new relation or use ncn=*, ncn_ref=* | 
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| Sustrans' National Cycle Network Regional routes (blue numbers). See WikiProject United Kingdom National Cycle Network too for a list and to see if a relation has already been set up. References shouldn't be given a prefix i.e. use 47 and not R47. | Add to an existing relation or create a new relation or use rcn=*, rcn_ref=* |  (Sign showing both national and regional spur). |
| LCC's London Cycle Network. See WikiProject United Kingdom London Cycle Network. | lcn=*, lcn_ref=* |
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| Ipswich, other towns etc. local cycle networks | lcn=*, lcn_ref=* | |
| The National Byway | network=rcn See National Byway. |
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| The Pennine Bridleway, a 209 km route parallel to the Pennine Way hiking trail | ||
| The Scottish Borders region has several signed long distance routes: the Border Loop (402 km), North Sea Cycle Route, Southern Borders Loop, 4 Abbeys Cycle route, Tweed Cycleway. There is also a signed local network depicted by coloured circles | "Border Loop" Relation:  149461 (XML, check, manage, JOSM, history, view, gpx ) |
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United States
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The U.S. Bicycle Route System began to be established in the 1970s, and originally consisted of two numbered routes:
- USBR 1 in North Carolina and Virginia
- USBR 76, only signed in Virginia
In early May 2011, the first major expansion of the system was made. Five new parent routes, two child routes, and one alternate route were created, along with modifications to the existing routes in Virginia and the establishment of Bicycle Route 1 in New England:
- U.S. Bicycle Route 1 now has an additional run from the state of Maine to New Hampshire.
- U.S. Bicycle Route 1A is a sea-side alternate route for Bike Route 1 in Maine.
- U.S. Bicycle Route 8 runs from Fairbanks, Alaska, along the Alaska Highway, to the Canadian border.
- U.S. Bicycle Route 20 runs from the Saint Clair River through the state of Michigan to Lake Michigan.
- U.S. Bicycle Route 87 follows the Klondike Highway from the Alaska Marine Highway terminal in Skagway to the Canadian border.
- U.S. Bicycle Route 95 follows the Richardson Highway from Delta Junction, Alaska to the Alaska Marine Highway terminal in Valdez.
- U.S. Bicycle Route 97 is entirely within Alaska, and it runs from Fairbanks, through Anchorage, to Seward.
- U.S. Bicycle Route 108 runs from its parent route in Tok, Alaska to Anchorage.
- U.S. Bicycle Route 208 follows the Haines Highway from the Alaska Marine Highway terminal in Haines to the Canadian border.
- New portions of USBR 1, 1A, and 20 are apparently not yet marked with signs.
- The Mississippi River Trail is also signed with USBR shields (ncn_ref=MRT).
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A number of states have their own numbered bicycle route networks. In Ohio, some counties have begun erecting numbered state route signs: [1]. Signs may vary from the generic design to the right, and some local networks may use this same oval. Maryland uses the generic bike route sign (below) for a statewide network. Statewide or regional route networks should use rcn route relations.
Some cities such as Washington, DC, Portland, Oregon, Berkeley and San Francisco, California, and Binghamton, New York have a local cycle network comprising a grid of bicycle boulevards, dedicated cycleways, and other roadways. These signed routes should use lcn route relations if specific routes have been designated; otherwise, if only generic 'bike route' signs have been posted without any labeling of routes, the ways that are marked as bike routes should be tagged lcn=yes.
Related pages
- Bicycle tags on OSM A slippy map that renders cycling related OSM tags
- Cheltenham Standard - a discussion of how to tag the suitability for cycles of all-purpose roads
- Cycle_routes/cyclability
- amenity=bicycle_parking
- amenity=bicycle_rental
- shop=bicycle
- vending=bicycle_tube
- barrier=cycle_barrier
- reference=* - motor vehicle routes
- crossing=*
- WikiProject Europe/EuroVelo
