Yet more Topo
Okay, I think I have most of this sussed.
TopoUSA has “draw layers” on which you can draw new roads, trails, and whatnot. The drawback to this is that it appears you cannot route the same trip on different kinds of layers. This will make it impossible to create a multi-modal trip in a single map file. Maybe that’s good, maybe it’s bad. I’m not sure.
If bike paths are to be classified as “trails” then, for example, from my house (near Copley Square) to the Galleria Mall will actually consist of three routes: one from Copley to the Esplanade (by road), one along the Esplanade (by trail), and one to the Galleria (by road). Or even one more, depending on how you want to get to the Galleria. (Assuming, of course, that anyone ever wants to go to the galleria.)
The alternative to that is to draw the bike paths as roads. That way, they can be routable along with regular roads. Then, then, implies that the “roads” are open to all vehicles, which clearly isn’t the case.
I’m not quite sure which approach is the better one. I suppose the only real difference it makes is when you’re trying to print out directions.
I did, however, get the whole 7-day TdC entered into a single map file with seven routes, one for each day. I’ll get them posted as soon as my new server gets here.
The next big difficulty is figuring out how to specify commuter rail and subway trips.
Also, can you tell it’s been raining a lot?
