Wahoo & Osmand for Touring

[HobbesOnTour]

I know I've banged on about this before, but there has been a development.

There are not many route planners that will work offline, and those that do often don't allow the export of a route to use on a gps device - just on your phone.

Osmand is one that does both and with its other functionality (like POIs, address search, links with other apps like i-overlander) makes it a very handy backup app to have on tour. It is clunky and not terribly user friendly, though.

Previously, I could create a route on Osmand offline, but the Wahoo app needed an internet connection to process the route. (Wahoo described it to me as "pinging" the cloud).
To get that route onto a gps meant connecting phone to unit (special cable/adapter required. In reality a third party file manager too).
Doable, but not exactly something for the side of the road.

Wahoo told me that they would look into it. And they have! As of today, I can create a route in osmand and send it to my Wahoo unit all without internet.

Since the issue has always been in the app, not the unit, I'd expect this to work for the Bolt (and the Elemnt) as well as the Roam.

Now, Osmand is not the greatest planner in the world (Cycle.Travel is!) but for an emergency it works. Other than a diversion caused by roadworks it got me about 35 km on two different routes in a pretty big city. Komoot would have tried to kill me about 3 or 4 times for the same mileage.

I don't know about Garmin, but when I was investigating this several years ago Garmin users were having similar problems getting a created Osmand file to the unit without using Internet.
Perhaps a Garmin user can test this out?

In any case, the flexibility and back up offered by combining Wahoo and Osmand is a great boon for the touring cyclist.

 

[IaninSheffield]

Ah Hobbes, I like a Saturday morning challenge!

I agree that creating route on Osmand is rather 'clunky' and therefore is not my first (nor even second or third!) choice when route planning. Another +1 for cycle.travel here. However, as you say, whilst out on the road, access to the Internet is not always guaranteed. Glad to hear you've got Wahoo and Osmand talking to one another sans Internet - that should make life so much simpler.

I've wrestled with the same problem for some while now, my foot being in the Garmin camp and ... well it's not easy! The 'conventional' way to get a route onto a Garmin device is using Garmin Connect, their web/app interface for transferring data twixt device and your computer/tablet/phone. But - or should I say BUT - an Internet connection is required. Natch. Apart from the Internet always being available, it also bothers me that during synching, files are getting shunted back and forth by the app automagically - that's great when it's all working, but not so much when stuff hits the fan. It should always be possible to manually locate a file and transfer it using a file manager application or app. Generally speaking, it is possible to do this on the Garmin devices I have, but not always.

• The Garmin 310XT watch I have connects by ANT+ only and only through Garmin Express. There's no file manager to transfer files ... but then again, it's more of training and performance device and not the best for navigation.
• The Garmin Edge 25 can connects with a proprietary USB connector/dock - fine for a PC/laptop, but not a tablet. It does connect through Bluetooth, but again Garmin apps + Internet then required. And it's sub-optimal for route planning.
• My Garmin Touring Edge. Since this device is designed for navigation, it's hardly surprising that this works best and can be bent to do the Osmand-Garmin shuffle. It's an older device and so has neither Bluetooth nor ANT+ - this is a bonus! It does have a mini USB port, so can be linked to a 'puter, but not to a tablet/phone without, as Hobbes says' a special cable mashup. What it does have though is a microSD card slot.

So my workflow for the Touring Edge + Osmand whilst out on the road and with no Internet is:

1. Create route in Osmand on tablet. [I don't carry a laptop for reasons of weight saving and reducing potential of damage/loss, although this whole farrago would be slightly simpler with one. The tablet is much, much lighter and cheaper to replace should anything happen]
2. Save as gpx file.
3. Transfer gpx file onto the microSD card.
4. Reinsert the card into the Garmin.

The (only slightly) tricky bit is shifting the card between devices. Since I have a card permanently in the tablet and that has some apps which rely on it - not least Osmand! - I've found the following allows a micro- and standard SD card to be connected to various devices with a USB A or micro USB port:

A degree of care is always needed with the tiny microSD format; they're so easily dropped or catapulted into who knows where. Having to carry another bit of kit might seem a pain, but it's small, light and is useful for shifting files of all types about. For example, I always back up photos from the camera (and add a few to blog posts etc when Internet connection allows) by transferring those photos to my tablet. The SD card reader slot above allows me to do that too and is much quicker than transferring large image files between camera and tablet wirelessly.

That's all a rather long winded answer to Hobbes' question, but really it's encompssed in those four brief steps.

 

[Blue Hills]

I don't know about Garmin, but when I was investigating this several years ago Garmin users were having similar problems getting a created Osmand file to the unit without using Internet.
Perhaps a Garmin user can test this out?

I've used an OTG cable adaptor, something like this.
https://www.onbuy.com/gb/for-samsun...EI9baJOlFdrSmJmQglxzQ69vD7spp-txoCFMIQAvD_BwE

to connect my garmin etrex20 to my ageing android tab to transfer files from osmand to the garmin. It can be a bit hit and miss but usually seems to work these days. In the past I had a fairly frequent issue with the tab shutting down because of some power issue it screamed about but countered this sometimes by using a special lead which allowed me to plug a powerbank into the system. Seem to recall that the last few times I tried it all worked well and earlier issues had mysteriously disappeared. Will try to experiment more over the weekend and report back.

>>Komoot would have tried to kill me about 3 or 4 times for the same mileage.
You'll be getting flack from some for such heresy.

 

[Blue Hills]

One potential way forward on this for an easier life is to use OSMand on a newer small chromebook - these will run android apps so you can have OSMand on the chromebook.
Transferring stuff from chromebooks to garmins via a USB cable is a doddle.

 

[IaninSheffield]

One potential way forward on this for an easier life is to use OSMand on a newer small chromebook - these will run android apps so you can have OSMand on the chromebook.
Transferring stuff from chromebooks to garmins via a USB cable is a doddle.

Ooo, now there's a thought! Trouble is my elderly Samsung Chromebook, which doesn't run android apps (I don't think), is still as fast and effective as it was when it came out the box. Can't bring myself to replace it ... yet.

 

[Blue Hills]

Ooo, now there's a thought! Trouble is my elderly Samsung Chromebook, which doesn't run android apps (I don't think), is still as fast and effective as it was when it came out the box. Can't bring myself to replace it ... yet.

I'd replace it when the updates stop.
you can check which chromebooks will run android apps here:
https://sites.google.com/a/chromium.org/dev/chromium-os/chrome-os-systems-supporting-android-apps

(yes - i agree that they are great - am never going back to windows)

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Thanks @IaninSheffield for the detailed reply. I have found that it's normally on the road (without internet) that we discover the little foibles of how our trusted apps work away from home!
Yes, those card reader things can be very handy for lots of uses.

>>Komoot would have tried to kill me about 3 or 4 times for the same mileage.
You'll be getting flack from some for such heresy.

I'll take it!
Having tested out various planners in different places, I'm of the opinion that they don't all work the same in different places.
Always good to be comfortable in using a few depending on circumstance.

One potential way forward on this for an easier life is to use OSMand on a newer small chromebook - these will run android apps so you can have OSMand on the chromebook.
Transferring stuff from chromebooks to garmins via a USB cable is a doddle.

When I was looking at Chromebooks as an option I could find few that could be charged from USB (such as a powerbank). Perhaps that has changed (it's been a few years) or it is not an issue for some but given where I would store such a device and the attention it would draw in certain places I opted against one.

 

[Blue Hills]

When I was looking at Chromebooks as an option I could find few that could be charged from USB (such as a powerbank). Perhaps that has changed (it's been a few years) or it is not an issue for some but given where I would store such a device and the attention it would draw in certain places I opted against one.

still the case that you will need a mains supply to charge I think hobbes - but I don't find it a great problem - unlike a tablet, I can use my small chromebook while actually charging it - takes not too much over an hour to charge and it then has up to ten hours of use from that charge. You, mad crazy thing that you are have headed off out of the range of spoons though - purveyors of great beer, cheap adequate nosh, freewifi and easy availability of powerpoints to bicycle tramps. My small chromebook will easily ram in a pannier. It also syncs with my small android tablet (I prefer to bigger tablets) and both can access the same stuff, docs etc, much offline if you want it to be.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Not a very helpful post: When away from the internet in the past (I often stay at a friend's place in France that has no phone signal beyond 2G) I plan routes directly into my Garmin by creating a route with waypoints using the device's own map, having mentally planned the route using a paper map. (Last time was an Oregon 750 I think). It's perfectly doable, but fiddly. I can see why you prefer something slicker.

Nothing unhelpful about it. It's another manner of plotting a route offline, albeit with maps (physical ir mental).
My Roam has a similar type of action - I can select a place on the map and it will plot a route there (on the unit, so offline). Useful, in theory, piddly in reality.
With Osmand, my Roam has much greater functionality and that (should) apply to the Elemnt & Bolt models too. Especially, the Elemnt & Bolt which have no local navigation abilities at all.

It goes to what I think is important when buying a gps - to have a good think about how we want to use it. They are all different.

At the end of the day, I'm not advocating plotting routes generally this way, but for those times when a beer/coffee/bike shop/closer campsite or doctor are required this is a relatively simple method of easing our minds. Or just freeing ourselves to wander off course without the dark cloud of instant doom enveloping us!

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Wise words indeed. I have to say that as the years go by I have become more and more sucked into the "be online" thing. Gone are the days of getting home and plugging my GPS into my desktop PC. I can design routes easily on RideWithGPS and seamlessly transfer them to my Garmin and they automagically upload to RWGPS. I'm happy with that because I'm always online ... Until, that is, I go to my regular holiday location in France and it all falls to bits! I have to ride 10km to the local tourist office and sit outside using their wifi!

Hopefully I'll be able to go there next year 2020 and 21 are looking like write offs in that respect.

Well, yes. Online is great until you're not!

And touring? When are you likely to be offline? When you're in the back of beyond or in the middle of a big thunderstorm - handy times to have navigation alternatives

Also, apps like RWGPS change their functionality regularly enough between subscription levels.

It's comforting to have something stable and reliable in my pocket.

 

[Blue Hills]

there are also of course mind benefits to being offline at least some of the time anyway - or you risk going on to sort a route to heaven and getting sucked into some online "debate" or crappery.
I'm such a luddite I have 3 (2 bought secondhand) etrex20s. see my out - tech can move on while I ride on.

 

[andrew_s]

I can design routes easily on RideWithGPS and seamlessly transfer them to my Garmin and they automagically upload to RWGPS. I'm happy with that because I'm always online ... Until, that is, I go to my regular holiday location in France and it all falls to bits! I have to ride 10km to the local tourist office and sit outside using their wifi!

Have you though of learning how to use a map?
Once you've learnt how, you can plan and navigate routes without the involvement of any electrons at all.