Do I really need Ride with GPS?

[ianrauk]

Garmin Connect does it for free, but I also use the free version of RWGPS

Me also.

 

[CAESAR AVGVSTVS]

This is one of the reasons why I took the plunge a few years ago and paid for a premium subscription. Basically using a ride sourced from elsewhere, with premium, I have access to their advanced editing tools and can splice the routes, add in new way points, or reverse it if I want. With premium I also have the facility to download the maps for off line use, something that I really value. I can then have a back up of my routes on my phone in case of any issues with my head unit and I don't need to have internet access. I find syncing with my Garmin is also completely painless, I just needed to link my RWGPS account to Garmin Connect and now whenever I pin a route in RWGPS, it pops up moments later on my head unit, provided I've connected it via bluetooth with my phone.

Overall, there are many different mapping sites out there, Komoot, Strava Cycle Travel, all have their merits and downsides. For me RWGPS worked the best and I use it to the exclusion of all else and I'm happy to pay yearly for the privilege of doing so, but there are free ones out there as well.

So I can use part of another ride and edit it as if the ride started and finished from my road. That sounds interesting, I’ll take a look, thanks Chris.

Garmin Connect does it for free, but I also use the free version of RWGPS

garmin connect has the popularity heatmap so you can see what routes cyclists prefer near you

So at the end of the day, I think I’m not going to continue with my subscription and settle for using the free version of RWGPS and use Garmin connect. I don’t get enough out of The paid version of RWGPS to warrant paying £71.00 👍

 

[CAESAR AVGVSTVS]

Thank you to everyone that helped me 😎

 

[matticus]

rwgps is probably my premier tool. perhaps my 2nd favourite is cycle.travel, but they're like apples+pears with very different strengths.

I have subscribed in the past (mainly for the OS squares offline on my phone, when on tour), but I'm sure it was a lot less than £70. Is that what most peeps are paying these days?
Haven't things shot up recently? I heard a pint of beer is over £3 these days, disgraceful ...

 

[annedonnelly]

garmin connect has the popularity heatmap so you can see what routes cyclists prefer near you

Is that so you can avoid them and use the quieter routes?

 

[Dogtrousers]

I've been a RWGPS user for a long, long time and pay for the premium a/c. It's the only route planner/ride history tracker/bike maintenance log that I use (or need). I also have a body of code that I've written that uses the API to do extra stats and stuff. I pay partly for the premium features, and partly to ensure that a good service that I use a lot will be around in future.

My advice is - don't ask us, just cancel your premium a/c. If you don't miss the premium features, you have your answer (and can re-subscribe). If you do, you have a different answer (and you' ve saved some cash)

Edit. Premium subscription is $80 US yearly or $9.99 US per month. https://ridewithgps.com/plans

Second edit. I hadn't seen the second page of the thread.

So at the end of the day, I think I’m not going to continue with my subscription and settle for using the free version of RWGPS and use Garmin connect. I don’t get enough out of The paid version of RWGPS to warrant paying £71.00 👍

Sensible decision. If you find that you're missing it then there's nothing stopping you from re-subscribing. If you don't - happy days.

 

[Dogtrousers]

garmin connect has the popularity heatmap so you can see what routes cyclists prefer near you

One of my favourite features on RWGPS is the personal heatmap. I always try to include a few new roads that I've never cycled before when planning a route.

 

[SWMc]

Route planning on Strava is pretty good now and routes automatically sync with Garmin so no need to download / upload GPX files.

 

[cyberknight]

Route planning on Strava is pretty good now and routes automatically sync with Garmin so no need to download / upload GPX files.

Nice to know,I prefer Strava route planner tbh and they have a similar heatmap

 

[CAESAR AVGVSTVS]

I’ve been playing with RWGPS and changing the start and finish points of another route that someone else posted.
It was ok ‘ish’ for my road riding, but as soon as I changed to “off road routes” on off road maps, it kept making its way directly to the roads. I had it programmed for off road but it was having none of it. Any ideas why?

 

[chriswoody]

I changed to “off road routes” on off road maps

Where abouts is this option? I've not seen that in my route planner. When creating or editing routes I basically have the options below:

I do find sometimes that RWGPS does have a problem automatically following some trails off-road. I'm not sure why, either the underlying map data or the map layer confuses the algorithm.

Anyway for the sections where it won't route down the trails I want it to route down, I switch to the draw lines option and just manually click on the trails I want to use.

 

[CAESAR AVGVSTVS]

Where abouts is this option? I've not seen that in my route planner. When creating or editing routes I basically have the options below:

View attachment 728206

I do find sometimes that RWGPS does have a problem automatically following some trails off-road. I'm not sure why, either the underlying map data or the map layer confuses the algorithm.

Anyway for the sections where it won't route down the trails I want it to route down, I switch to the draw lines option and just manually click on the trails I want to use.

Assuming I’m doing it correctly it’s the tabs when in the Explore page. However I think I’m asking it to do something a little before it’s time 🤷‍♂️

 

[chriswoody]

Aah, I hadn't realised you were using the mobile app. On the desktop version I would make a copy of any route I find from the explore page. Then it's quite straight forward to edit this copy from there.

On the mobile App, it's a little more obscure, so when you find a route you like and want to use, you need to click on the three dots to the side of it and click the option to pin it to your library.

With that done, go to your library and open the route from there. Then with it open, look at the bottom right hand corner and there is a button called plan. Click this and then you should be able to edit the route normally.

There's a really good explanation of all of the mobile editing options here:

https://support.ridewithgps.com/hc/en-us/articles/4415456909339-Mobile-Route-Planner

Hopefully that helps a little?

 

[HobbesOnTour]

I do find sometimes that RWGPS does have a problem automatically following some trails off-road.

It's been a long time since I used RWGPS but there were different map options that could be chosen (on the website). Occasionally, a route could vary from map to map as if one set of maps supported the route but the next didn't. This would be for mainly off-road options. I can't recall if I had the same map options on the phone app but perhaps this might explain your issue - a route created on one map but navigated on another?

 

[chriswoody]

It's been a long time since I used RWGPS but there were different map options that could be chosen (on the website). Occasionally, a route could vary from map to map as if one set of maps supported the route but the next didn't. This would be for mainly off-road options. I can't recall if I had the same map options on the phone app but perhaps this might explain your issue - a route created on one map but navigated on another?

I first came across this a few years ago, it seems to be a glitch in the RWGPS matrix. I found a route that had been created with the ESRI Topo layer, copied it to my routes and opened it for editing. I changed to my prefered OSM Outdoor Layer and made a few edits here and there. It was later on closer inspection I noticed that on a section I'd not edited, the route had changed in one place, from a perfectly good gravel road to a busy A road running almost parallel.

Delving deeper I discovered it was doing this uncommanded on a few routes and where there wasn't a nearby road to re-route, it was doing some other funky stuff. Here's a screen grab of a section of another route I recently copied and edited, I've only spliced the route into daily sections and this is one problem area that I've discovered on closer inspection.