When I joined the Stockholm Critical Mass ride, I was really excited to learn about a mapping app called Critical Maps. It's an open source app that allows riders in the group to show where they are during the group ride. Scheduled rides show up as a pin on a map, with details about what kind of ride is happening and when and where to meet. When users have the app on, they appear as little dots on the map. And the map updates in real time, as the ride starts rolling. This way, if participants need to join late, they can still find the group. This is AMAZING to me because it always happens, with a group ride, that someone needs to come late. And usually they ask me to text them with information about where we are. But this is next to impossible when I'm leading a ride. Critical Maps solves the issue!
It is also a great tool to connect to other communities of bicyclists, because there are already many cities around the globe who are using the app. There is a setting for recurring rides, so that the ride leaders can post the meetup details and have it automatically show up every month. And rides don't just have to be official Critical Mass rides, either. For ride type, you can also choose night rides, lunch rides, demonstrations, tours, Kidical Mass rides and more!
It was a little tricky for me to get started, because the app was developed in Germany, meaning all the supporting documents are in German (though the app itself is in English). And, I found that you actually need to go to the Critical Mass website first, in order to log the ride info, that then gets pushed to the app. But Google Translate makes it possible to navigate these sites.
The main trick seems to be that in order to schedule a ride or change its details, you must register on the Critical Mass site. What I'm not quite sure about is whether I correctly scheduled my first ride. I can see the monthly Stockholm ride, when I'm on the Critical Maps app. And I can search for a list of rides around the world, by city name, on the Critical Mass website. But I don't see any of other rides, European or in Memphis, on the app's map. I'm hoping that's just because I'm outside of the area. I definitely have some more testing to do.
I wanted to share a couple more links, in case you would also like to try using this helpful tool. Critical Maps has a facebook group where they share info about some of the rides. I'm not sure, yet, if they're just pulling that from the app or if I need to let them know when I have a ride planned. And Critical Mass posted a FAQs page here. Again, you'll definitely want to turn on Google Translate, unless you are a German speaker!
I'm excited about the possibilities for using this app, though. And I fully plan to figure it out!