Route Planning

[ColinJ]

I do something similar.

You don't need to go as far as Colin suggests as broadly speaking if it isn't in Google street view then it may be impassible and you'll need to do some more digging. Use the Sustrans website/google searches/Panoramio/bikely (search function) and the cycle/street option in bikeroutetoaster.

For example, in Colin's Hudson Hill Road example, Google streetview reveals the road is inaccesible for cars-here

It seems to work for me

I suppose I should update my standard advice because it pre-dates StreetView!

Yes, Streetview does reveal whether a 'road' is actually a road but do you Streetview an entire route before you ride it? There is no obvious way to see which 'roads' need checking out because they all look the same on a lot of the online sites.

And deckertim is right about Bing maps. Microsoft bought MultiMap which is the site I used to use for OS mapping before I bought My full-UK Memory Map software.

 

[400bhp]

I suppose I should update my standard advice because it pre-dates StreetView!

Yes, Streetview does reveal whether a 'road' is actually a road but do you Streetview an entire route before you ride it? There is no obvious way to see which 'roads' need checking out because they all look the same on a lot of the online sites.

The way to do it Colin is to hover the little street view man over the route. If it turns blue then it's a passable road & if not then it needs looking into in more detail.

 

[ColinJ]

The way to do it Colin is to hover the little street view man over the route. If it turns blue then it's a passable road & if not then it needs looking into in more detail.

That's a top tip!

I'd noticed that it did that but since I don't use Google Maps for planning routes, I hadn't thought of using that feature for checking accessibility!

 

[dellzeqq]

The way to do it Colin is to hover the little street view man over the route. If it turns blue then it's a passable road & if not then it needs looking into in more detail.

not so, I'm afraid. If it turns blue it can still be a track suitable only for MTB tyres or (as I discovered when plotting the route from Cleethorpes to Hull) it can tell you that two roads connect when they don't. I think that it's because the blue line is set up to connect points less than a certain number of metres away - and doesn't take account of hedges, fences and ditches. Imagine the scorn coming your way as you lead the troops over a barbed wire fence....

Colin £160 is a lot of money, but looking at my drawer full of OS maps going back 30 years I'd imagine I've spent way more than that.....do you get free updates?

 

[ColinJ]

Colin £160 is a lot of money, but looking at my drawer full of OS maps going back 30 years I'd imagine I've spent way more than that.....do you get free updates?

I love paper maps and have lots of them but I decided that getting the whole country*** in one seamless digital map was the way to go. It is so handy being able to scroll one big map about and not having to worry about going 'off the edge'. I can travel anywhere in the country with my laptop and plot routes for that area even if I don't have an internet connection. I also like checking out the routes of forum rides in parts of the country that I've never been to.

No free updates, I'm afraid. Memory Map still seems to be on the Version 5 that I bought and that is © 2005. I'm assuming that they are still using the same OS data from then. (Surely if they had updated anything, they would have changed the version number?). The odd new bypass or industrial estate can catch you out, but 99.xx% of what is on the 2005 map won't have changed. Double check against an online map if you suspect there are changes. The 2005 map is more up to date than a lot of my paper ones!

It would cost over £1,000 buy all the paper Landranger maps (there are 204 and Amazon charge over £5 a map) so £160-200 is pretty good value for money. You can buy the UK as 6 separate regions, or as North or South, but I decided I'd end up buying them all eventually; it is cheaper to bite the bullet and buy the entire country in one go (and you also avoid those 'map edge' issues).

*** Except Northern Ireland - that isn't included. I think there might be a separate product for the island of Ireland.

 

[400bhp]

not so, I'm afraid. If it turns blue it can still be a track suitable only for MTB tyres or (as I discovered when plotting the route from Cleethorpes to Hull) it can tell you that two roads connect when they don't. I think that it's because the blue line is set up to connect points less than a certain number of metres away - and doesn't take account of hedges, fences and ditches. Imagine the scorn coming your way as you lead the troops over a barbed wire fence....

Well, clearly there are exceptions but it's a quick and dirty way of checking if a road is passable or not.

Additionally, plotting the route using something like bikeroutetoaster with the auto-route option turned on, will negate any issues with roads connecting.