A project to use GPS data to determine the best location for bike lanes in Louisville has won a national grant. A new app for bicyclists was one of the winners of a $35,000 Knight News Challenge grant.They’re calling the project “LouLoops.” It’s a collaboration between the Urban Design Studio and Forest Giant, a local tech firm. Forest Giant CEO Dave Durand says the free app will let people track their bike routes and share them with others, as well as help meet individual health objectives.“Hopefully you can utilize it so you can set goals for yourself and stay on track with the various health initiatives you’re going after,” he says.But besides being useful on a personal level, LouLoops will aggregate the information about where people are cycling. The app will send that information to Metro Government, where it could be used to influence where the city decides to locate future bike lanes.Durand says similar apps already exist, but they aren’t localized like LouLoops will be.“So this is specifically for Louisville, for people to track their rides,” he says. “But it’s also to empower the community, to actually influence some decision-making on a Metro level.”Durand says his team hopes to release LouLoops in a beta version sometime in the next three months.
