ROUTE PLANNING

[gbs]

I am struggling at the moment now that trusty Bikehike is unavailable. Does any one have recommendations? To save wasted effort here is my evaluation of known sites

BIKEHIKE: vg but has problems loading today and I have read that storing routes will not be possible in the future

BIKELY: seems v cumbersome and difficult to make changes/amend errors; does not recognise cycle only roads in Richmond Park and so what else is not functioning?

MAPMYRIDE: covered in ads

 

[Auntie Helen]

Ah, Bikehike IS still available for storing routes if you do this:

Plot your route
Do 'Download'
Download gpx track to your hard disk.

You can then upload it to BikeHike next time you want to view/use it and from there can download it straight to your Garmin if it's one that doesn't work like a remote HDD, if that makes sense.

 

[Ian H]

On Google and Bikely you can swap between 'follow road' and a freehand 'draw line' that'll allow you to route anywhere.

 

[zacklaws]

I have used all the ones below at some point.
Bike Route Toaster:-

http://www.bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx

Course Mapper:-

http://www.coursemapper.com/

GPSies:-

http://www.gpsies.com
/createTrack.do;jsessionid=E638DE7701E5BDC9A5A1B5843AF4C5C5

Map my Ride:-

http://www.mapmyride.com/

Bike Trails:-

http://www.bikely.com/listpaths

 

[gbs]

Thanks to all for suggestions, particularly Helen re GPX file downloads.

These GPX files are not recognised by my PC (windows XP 2002, office 2007). So, next simple qn - how do I print such a file as a map? A quick trawl of Microsoft fora(ums if you wish) was not helpful

 

[Auntie Helen]

You can open the GPX file in TextEdit (or whatever it's called on a PC) and look at it - it's a lot of directions and other complicated stuff in XML format. So yes, that doesn't print as a map at all. However you can upload the GPX file to any of the many sites like bikeroutetoaster, bikehike, mapmyride and then print the map from there. Hope this helps.

 

[andym]

Why not try mapsource from Garmin - it's a free download. Not the greatest software in the world, but worth having.

 

[srw]

MAPMYRIDE: covered in ads

If you use it with Firefox (possibly true for other browsers) it will assess your screen size and resize itself so that all of the ads and header gubbins can be hidden using the scroll bar. That, plus the decent elevation profiles, make it a much better bet than Bikely.

 

[BigonaBianchi]

I use Bike route toaster>Garmin

 

[rich p]

I use a map

 

[gbs]

You can open the GPX file in TextEdit (or whatever it's called on a PC) and look at it - it's a lot of directions and other complicated stuff in XML format. So yes, that doesn't print as a map at all. However you can upload the GPX file to any of the many sites like bikeroutetoaster, bikehike, mapmyride and then print the map from there. Hope this helps.

Dowload and then upload! Why did I not think of that. Thanks it works.

 

[Auntie Helen]

You didn't think of that because it's a bit rubbish to have to download something and then upload it. It was much easier in the olden days with just a URL to BikeHike. But these things 'appen when people become afraid of legal action!

 

[snorri]

I use a map

Me too, but the young'uns don't do maps nowadays.
You and I, we're not trendy.... and proud of it.

 

[andym]

Me too, but the young'uns don't do maps nowadays.
You and I, we're not trendy.... and proud of it.

Does anyone else find these posts slightly bizarre? It's a thread about planning a route using a map - it just happens that the map is on a screen rather than on paper.

This is a bit like someone posting in a thread about word processing software about how they've used a manual typewriter man and boy and they're proud of it. Well good for you. Different strokes for different folks and all that, but what's that got to do with the price of fish? (as us old 'uns used to say)

 

[rich p]

Does anyone else find these posts slightly bizarre? It's a thread about planning a route using a map - it just happens that the map is on a screen rather than on paper.

This is a bit like someone posting in a thread about word processing software about how they've used a manual typewriter man and boy and they're proud of it. Well good for you. Different strokes for different folks and all that, but what's that got to do with the price of fish? (as us old 'uns used to say)

Nope. It's an alternative technology which doesn't need any technical know-how, paints the whole picture and never runs out of battery. The thread asks for advice about ROUTE PLANNING and Snorri and I have recommended an alternative method.
As you say, different strokes....Why are you so defensive?