Bike navigation in Berlin
Berlin is where Spokli starts. The open data is unusually good, the cobblestones are unusually real, and we ride here every day.
What is covered
The whole city within its boundary. Address search only suggests places that can actually be routed, and the app tells you when a start or destination lies outside the area instead of routing from somewhere nearby. Fast and Comfort routes work everywhere in Berlin; Night routes are offered after dusk with a coverage bar on every route.
The data under every route
| Source | What it gives us |
|---|---|
| OpenStreetMap | Streets, cycleways, surfaces, traffic signals, access rules, tram rails in the carriageway. Routes carry the date of the map snapshot they were computed on. |
| Berlin public lighting inventory | About 205,000 street lamps with type and position, from the city's open data portal. The base of the lighting classes. |
| Berlin terrain model (DGM1) | Ground height on a one-metre grid, from the state survey. Climbing for every route, smoothed so bridges do not become hills. |
| bbbike | Hand-surveyed surface grades, unlit paths and dated closures from Berlin's 25-year-old community bike router. Fills gaps and corrects conditions on the server side. |
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License. Lighting and terrain data: Geoportal Berlin.
Berlin specifics Spokli understands
Cobblestones
Still the surface of hundreds of side streets, especially in the east and in the old villages. Counted at their real cost, avoidable outright.
Cycle tracks alongside main roads
Switching between a road and its own track is not a turn, and a track beside a main road is calmer than the road but not as calm as a side street.
The indirect left
Turning left off a big road means crossing, waiting, crossing again. Counted as real time in every route. Tram rails in the carriageway cost more too.
Closures
Dated construction and festival closures are applied for your departure time and reported as a warning on the route.
The pilot
Spokli for Android is being used by a closed group of testers in Berlin. They ride, the app asks one question afterwards, and their route reports feed directly into how turns, signals and surfaces are weighted. There is no public release date yet.
Join the waitlistOther cities
New cities follow only after their data has been audited, imports run reliably, and the routes have been ridden. Candidates exist; commitments do not. If you want Spokli in your city, tell us which one.
[email protected]Help us build better bike routes for real cities.
Join the waitlist to be the first to try Spokli when it launches in Berlin.
From our articles
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City guidesBerlin cobblestones: where they are and how to avoid them
Why Berlin's side streets still rattle, why "paved" on a map does not mean smooth, and how Spokli prices a cobblestone stretch or keeps it off your route.