We’ve been pretty swamped here with new members and content this month but we’ve also found time to make a few updates:

1. Members can now edit trail information. If you added a trail to singletracks you can now update trail details yourself anytime - including mileage, configuration, directions, description, and more! Of course all registered members can continue to add trail reviews, closure information, photos, videos, and GPS data using the trail dashboard on the right side of the trail pages.

2. Trail tags version 1.0 is now live (again). Some members recently pointed out that our trail tagging system was broken and this week we finally got around to getting things straightened out. It’s simple to add descriptive tags to any trail using - you guessed it! - the trail dashboard. We’ve even posted a short blurb about how trail tags work and include some suggestions to get you started.

We plan on integrating trail tags even more in the future but for now you can view the most popular tags, find individual trail tags at the bottom of each trail page, and view your personal tags to help you organize your favorite places to ride. Here are a few cool tags to check out to see how this works: NC Triangle, fast, and technical.

3. Forum issues resolved? A few of you have reported having trouble posting to the forums with random cursor movements but now we’re hearing that things seem to be back to normal. This fall we’ll be making some big changes to the forums so look for continued improvements…

More singletracks news to come, including a post explaining how we organize and map trail information, new contest details, and much more. Summer rocks!

So apparently this story is getting picked up all over the place and at first I was pretty excited at the prospects: Google Street View is expanding to hiking and biking trails. For those who are not familiar with Google Street View, it basically allows you to view locations on a map as if you were standing right there on the street (or now, trail). Google collects millions of photos using a vehicle mounted camera and GPS and stitches the images together to create sort of an online virtual reality experience. Sure privacy advocates aren’t too fond of it since Google is snapping pics of innocent bystanders and private properties but that’s another debate…

Anyway, it turns out Google just mapped and posted its first bike trail - a path in Monterey, CA. The article that’s floating around doesn’t give the name of the trail but I assumed it would be somewhere awesome like Fort Ord. Fortunately this website has located the elusive Google “Bike View” trail: it’s the (wide, concrete) Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail that runs right through downtown. Ahhh, it’s that kind of bike “trail”…

The article mentions the rig that was used to get the trail shots is some sort of “trike” which I assume is necessary because the tech is so heavy (batteries, cameras, gps, etc.). Until the rig shrinks I don’t think we’ll be seeing any singletrack views anytime soon - though Google is said to be working on mapping “hiking and biking trails” in California, Italy, and the UK.

Ultimately this is a pretty cool development but I can’t see myself spending hours (or even more than 5 minutes) clicking through a “virtual trail.” I’d much rather be out there riding it!