It’s not often that I write about using technology in physical education classes, but today Google announced a new addition to Google Maps that phys ed teachers might be interested in. Google Maps now provides directions for traveling by bicycle in more than 150 US cities. Now when you enter a pair of address you can choose to get directions for traveling by automobile or bicycle. Don’t have any particular addresses in mind that you want to ride to? Google Maps offers suggested bicycle riding routes which you can find by selecting “bicycle” in your Google Maps menu.
Watch the video below to learn more about bicycle routes in Google Maps.

Applications for Education
Google Maps can now be used by physical education teachers and or health teachers to have students plan safe routes for bicycle rides. To take the assignment a step farther you could have students plan a route, measure the distance, and calculate how many calories a person could burn on that route. There are numerous calorie calculators on the web that you could use for that second step, here is one to get you started.