Best Route planner

[michael3429]

Evening all

Not sure if this is correct place to post this question but couldn't find anywhere else.

I'm wondering what program or route planner people recommend using to plan there routes. Easiest to use etc

Many thanks in advance all

 

[michael3429]

Anyone, help would be much appreciated as i would like to put a route together. Bikehike isn't working for me

 

[Rebel Ian]

Why isn't BikeHike working? I've just tried it and it's ok.

I used to use Bikely but that is so unbelievably slow I got fed up and started using BikeHike. Mapmyride is another lots of people use that I'm aware of.

 

[dellzeqq]

google maps, hit options and go for 'no highways'

 

[Yellow7]

Hi.
For my first tours across France and Spain I used MicroSoft's 'Autoroute'.

As you don't need details on latest roads you wouldn't need the latest version and could buy buy an old version on ebay for peanuts.

It is written as mainly a motorists aid but as i say, i used it for 2 tours across europe and proved just the ticket.

There is an option for 'prefered' roads and also for different views. I guess it really depends on what sort of routes / tour your planning.

Mark. wallisonwheels.com

 

[Oldgit]

My link Works for me.

 

[andym]

It might help if you gave a bit more information as the answer does depend a bit what you mean by 'routeplanning': do you just want online maps, or do you want to be able to save the route and/or download the final route to a GPS, or research places to stay/places to see along the way, do you want information like elevation profiles, or do you want it to pick a route for you?Google Maps is an excellent research tool. Bikely and some other sites (I think) provide elevation profiles. ViaMichelin.com has an option for a cycle-friendly route which is pretty good - except I don't think there's anyway of getting a .gpx file from it.

 

[ianrauk]

Ridewithgps is a good one.

What's the problem with BikeHike?

 

[vernon]

I use http://www.viamichelin.co.uk to get the first suggestion of a rout and then use http://www.mapmyride.com to refine it and get a gradient profile.

 

[michael3429]

Guy's thanks very much for your reply's this has got me started. Mapmyride is the one for me i think i will try others. I do plan on downloading and uploading to gps eventually but i just want to get a few training routes from here then work on from there.
Bikehike still not working for me but not worried as got these other ones to try.

 

[vernon]

Guy's thanks very much for your reply's this has got me started. Mapmyride is the one for me i think i will try others. I do plan on downloading and uploading to gps eventually but i just want to get a few training routes from here then work on from there.
Bikehike still not working for me but not worried as got these other ones to try.

Bikehike 'runs out' of the OS mapping function every day. When exactly depends on how many times it has been used.

 

[dellzeqq]

google maps (see above) is sometimes a bit optimistic...

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=qY4miC6Rgfc

 

[andym]

google maps (see above) is sometimes a bit optimistic...

I only watched the first two minutes ... Why do they keep driving back into the mud once they've been hauled out?

My words were an 'excellent research tool'. If you want to find out whether there are campsites or hostels within striking distance of your route then Google Maps is extremely useful. It's also very useful for street maps of towns. And there's also Google Street View.

The choice of which tool to use obviously depends on what you want to do.