The yoot of today wouldn't know an A-Z if it came up to them and asked for directions to The Albert Hall because, as you well know dear reader, in the world of smart phones, interwebs and electronic thingamajigs of fantastical ability, the printed page's days are numbered - just like the pages themselves.
The idea is that having electronica do your mapping, it'll be better, more accurate and put you at the centre of your world - rather than have Jerusalem or Goodison Park there.
Digital mapping allows you to see the world in a different way and it lets you see Greater Manchester's cycling infrastructure in a way that you never usually can: in its splendid fractured entirety.
If there ever was a case for a literally and figuratively more joined up approach to cycling, then this image is it.
There are three types of 'bike lane' marked on here: trails (dark green), dedicated lanes (lighter green) and bike friendly roads (dotted green). I'm not blaming the map maker (calling them a cartographer doesn't seem right really) here but these categories hide a multitude of sins. A trail is usually a bridleway or a path which cars don't use - through parks for example. Dedicated lanes seem to be just that, roads where lanes are fitted in leaving the euphemism of bike friendly roads which, if you look closely includes such belters as Bridgewater Way between The Uniteds and Hulme, Portland Street and Oxford Road. Hardly friendly.
Wouldn't it be great if there was an organisation which could make sense of all this, close gaps, link lanes up, make them good. That would be truly original and thoroughly modern.
I know this isn't fair but look what Copenhagen has achieved - surely the birthplace of the industrial revolution could do better?
Step forward TfGM, your challenge awaits you.
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