Which cities are doing the most for biking

Are you a bicyclist with a love for data?

A master's student in the Environmental Studies program at the University of Oregon studying GIS and bicycle transportation put together this incredible map (click here for a larger version) about the percentage of commuters using bikes across each state.

He even compared government spending on bike infrastructure, traffic fatalities and the ratio of female to male riders.

The number of bicyclists on the streets is a clear representation of how "livable" a city is considered. But the most important information coming out of the graphic is the number of women bikers on the streets. Women are an "indicator species" when it comes to bike commuting -- which means when biking is safe enough, a larger percentage of women use this two wheel mode of transportation. So a state with more female bicyclists has done an impressive job with its bicycling set up.

For all you bicycle lane haters, the author also notes that between 2004 and 2009, as government spending on bike infrastructure doubled, about 300,000 more people started commuting by bicycle, and the rate of bike fatalities per ten thousand bike commuters was cut in half.

Clearly, government spending on bike infrastructure is working and is necessary. Give people the safe option to ditch their cars at home, and they will. Our streets have not only been made for automobiles to commute, and we need to reclaim some of that land for ourselves!

Here are the top 10 cities with bike commuters and the number of women bicyclists they're attracting:

Via FastCompany

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com