Is bikehike working ok for you?

[ianrauk]

Another site that has the options of OSM based routing as well as Google's and of displaying OS maps is gpxeditor.co.uk
The interface is bit "special". It's all done on "context-sensitive" menus (that's right-click to you & me).
Certain aspects are rather audax specific (km only, not miles for instance)

It's been developed by a member over on YACF
Some of us might remember him on here too, took himself a bit seriously ....

Not THE 'serious cyclist'?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

OSM data is generally pretty good - it's just that some routing programs are better than others at getting the best results out of it. Often what looks like a "mislabelled footpath" is actually labelled fine, it's just that the routing/rendering program doesn't parse it correctly.

Handled correctly, it's the best routable cycle dataset out there. (But that's not to say there aren't errors.)

I don't doubt it, but whatever the algorithm for routing if the base data is wrong.... gigo.

 

[Trickedem]

The one thing I don't like about bikehike is its popularity. Trying to use it this evening and I am getting the Daily Usage Limit Reached message on the OS map ;(

 

[ianrauk]

The one thing I don't like about bikehike is its popularity. Trying to use it this evening and I am getting the Daily Usage Limit Reached message on the OS map ;(

I have never got that Tim. And am using it right now.

 

[Richard Fairhurst]

I don't doubt it, but whatever the algorithm for routing if the base data is wrong.... gigo.

"Wrong" isn't usually the issue... "crazily complicated" is.

If something is tagged in OSM as "highway=cycleway", or "highway=secondary", that's relatively easy and most routers can cope with that.

If it's tagged as "highway=path, bicycle=yes, tracktype=grade3, smoothness=intermediate, designation=public_bridleway"... that's a whole bunch harder to parse, and many routers don't make a good job of it. That's very often why they'll send you down a muddy bridleway - they're misinterpreting a tag that means "you're allowed to cycle here" as "it's a good idea to cycle here".

CycleStreets does it well and I might gently venture that my own effort (link below) makes a creditable fist of it too .

 

[GrumpyGregry]

"Wrong" isn't usually the issue... "crazily complicated" is.

If something is tagged in OSM as "highway=cycleway", or "highway=secondary", that's relatively easy and most routers can cope with that.

If it's tagged as "highway=path, bicycle=yes, tracktype=grade3, smoothness=intermediate, designation=public_bridleway"... that's a whole bunch harder to parse, and many routers don't make a good job of it. That's very often why they'll send you down a muddy bridleway - they're misinterpreting a tag that means "you're allowed to cycle here" as "it's a good idea to cycle here".

CycleStreets does it well and I might gently venture that my own effort (link below) makes a creditable fist of it too .

it is when it routes down footpaths I have a problem! If it is legal it is my call to ride it or not. If it aint, it aint.
Amd the flaw ime of all "open" stuff is that it all ends up too complicated in the end and then its utility diminishes.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

The one thing I don't like about bikehike is its popularity. Trying to use it this evening and I am getting the Daily Usage Limit Reached message on the OS map ;(

Route planning whilst skiving at work works fine for me

 

[Spinney]

CycleStreets does it well and I might gently venture that my own effort (link below) makes a creditable fist of it too .

Right, @Richard Fairhurst - you've made two shameless plugs in this thread (and my quote makes three )
NO MORE ADVERTISING!!!

 

[ddinsdale]

I have never got that Tim. And am using it right now.

Worth a check back to the front page of the site - where the author has helpfully put a number against the # tiles used by the site. I say that because sometimes the limit seems to be is a function of cached files in the browser. I sometimes hit the 'limit' when uploading an existing file, and find that pressing on the zoom control on OS map area simply clears the 'limit'