Edinburgh's hidden cycle paths

The Innertube Map website is using volunteers and social media to make the cycle network more accessible and easier to useEdinburgh has an amazing network of cycle paths that cut through the city like rabbit warrens. But you can live in the city for years and not even know they exist.Old converted railway lines with deep embankments will take you from near the city centre down to the Port of Leith, to Granton, or to the seaside at Cramond ? routes that go for miles with barely the sight or sound of a road or car. You can ride from a housing estate near the Scottish Parliament right down to the seaside resort of Portobello, passing through a dramatic tunnel over 500m long. The first time I found one of these paths, having lived in Edinburgh for five years, it was like being teleported to another part of the city. Apart from anything, I had no idea where I was, or what parts of the city I had passed through. There were no signs, and the landmarks were new to me.Fast forward five years, and we've just launched the Innertube Map website, an interactive map and blog which uses citizen journalists, smartphones and geo-tagging to help bring these routes to life.The map itself is a stylised version of the cycle paths based on the London tube map, and was the brain child of Mark Sydenham, manager of Edinburgh bicycle recycling charity the Bike Station. The idea for the interactive map and blog was the result of my work as a beatblogger for the Guardian last year and my longstanding interest in community radio and media.Here's how it works. Entrances and exits to the paths have been changed to "stops" on the map, such as Ferry Road, Fountainbridge or Holyrood Road.Stories, audio, video and photos can be tagged to any of these stops, either by using a keyword, or by geo-tagging your content ? with a smartphone, for example. Alternatively, you can post directly onto a stop on the website, or just email the content in.The map then shows when and where new stories have appeared, whether they've been written by members of the public or by our team of eleven volunteer Innertube Ambassadors. They're there to report interesting events and stories affecting the communities around the routes, and to relay problems like fly-tipping, vandalism, poor signage or barriers for bikes, pedestrians, wheelchair users or horses (yes, really).Our ambassadors are a pretty varied bunch: there's Jackie Jack, a tall blonde police officer from the mounted division of Lothian and Borders Police; Mo from Portobello, a blogger and wheelchair user who is training to be a cox; Alasdair, a dispute resolution lawyer who commutes into work every day; and Gary, a founding member of the Spartans FC cycle club (four members so far). They're a great bunch.I've been out training them for the last couple of months, teaching them how to blog, tweet and interview people using smartphones. For example, Sue was out recently covering the opening of a new cycle path in Granton with audioboo: she had her report up on the site within two hours.Of course, not everyone has a smartphone, so we bought kit for about half our ambassadors as we didn't want that to be a barrier to participation. Luckily, we've had a good budget for equipment and to build the website as we won?�98,000 of funding for the project from The People's Postcode Lottery to do the project, and do it well.Some of that money has gone into developing the site and training and equipping the ambassadors. Most of it, however, will be spent on conservation work on the cycle paths by a local NGO, Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust, and on creating clear, colourful new signs that will match the map - another way to help people find the routes.Maybe then people visiting the city, students and locals will be able find out about this amazing network of routes more easily, and not stumble across them by chance. We're already hearing that the map is helping people (including Labour MSP Sarah Boyack) who know the city well find routes they didn't know existed.And if you already know the routes like the back of your hand? Well, maybe you'd like to tell us about what's happening on them.CyclingEthical and green livingEdinburghTom Allanguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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