On-line route planner?

[Chrisz]

Anyone know of a good web-based route planner?

I'm planning a little trip and need to know the exact distances (I'll be cycling) so I can plan overnight stops as well as possibly points of interest so I need to be able to add in multiple "via" options.

 

[peteoc]

mapmyride.com

 

[TrevorM]

http://www.bikeroutetoaster.com/

 

[zacklaws]

Bikeroutetoaster has always been my favourite route planner, despite using others, I always return to "toaster" but I am becoming a bit despondent with it lately.

Today I planned a route and luckily I spotted a big error whereby it took me 2 miles across fields and there was not even a farm track, if I had not known the area, I would not have spotted it, but that is not the first time it has done it recently and its most annoying in areas that you do not know to suddenly be confronted with open ground and not a road or track in sight.

It also has the annoying habit of downloading on occasions to my Garmin all the course point warnings which I do not want, as I deselct them, as on long routes, it slows down the garmin updating, so when you have a junction coming up it is easy to miss as the Garmin can be about 30secs behind.

It has also become bad with timings, I can input for example 15mph for a 60 mile route and it will give me about 6 hours, today's route was 75 miles and planned on 16mph and it gave me over 9 hours to complete it

Other route planners which I have used are, and there are probably more on the net :-

http://www.gpsies.co...5A1B5843AF4C5C5

http://www.bikemap.n...&zoom=10&type=2

http://www.coursemapper.com/

http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php

http://ridewithgps.com/

 

[TVC]

Another one for the list:

http://www.bikely.com/

 

[robgul]

This may appear to be a sweeping statement BUT :

I have found ANYTHING that uses Google maps as a base is frequently unreliable ... roads that aren't marked - or roads that are, but don't exist on the ground. Distances and routing are wrong too, very frequently.

Not sure why, it may linked to the well-known copyright "errors" that most maps have to be able to identify copiers and cloners. (The A-Z for London has a minor error on EVERY page so the publisher can tell if it's been used in contravention of a user licence]

I have to say that the investment in something like Tracklogs or Memory Map using the OS maps is worth it .... you can buy it as you want it by area, even strips of map if you are doing a tour (and more OS map data is being released on a free download basis to use in these tools)

Rob

 

[Chuffy]

I use Bikely as well. The main point in it's favour is the 'snap to road' feature which makes planning a long on-road jaunt much quicker and easier than either of the two standalone packages I have (Anquet and Tracklogs). Or have these been upgraded to include this feature now?

The downside is the horribly simplistic Google Maps base which makes plotting a country lane route a bloody nuisance, with mouse in one hand and OS Landranger in the other.

 

[HLaB]

http://www.coursemapper.com/

Have you ever used coursemapper before its ability to add a bit of a background map on a Garmin 305 (and the like) looks good. Do you find out however it clogs up the memory and only short routes can be added ?

 

[Banjo]

Hi Chris I have used all the ones recommended and find for me bikeroutetoaster and Ride with GPS are far and away the best. Of the 2 I like ride with GPS most as you can see the map the elevation graph and mileage on the same page.

Map my ride I found very slow to load and user unfriendly.Bikehike is good but you cant save a route on it .

 

[Chrisz]

Cheers all.

Plenty of ideas there to be getting on with. I'm looking for a decent route to go from Chatham, Deal, Eastney (Portsmouth) and Lympstone (Exeter) - possibly on to Bickleigh (Plymouth) as a solo ride over three (possibly 4) days next summer. Plenty of plotting to do

 

[texas]

I have used many of the above, and find that ride with GPS is the quickest and provides the information that I want (altitude)

 

[PMB]

+1 For ride with gps

 

[ColinJ]

Online, I use Bikely, but I prefer to do my route planning offline. I bit the bullet and bought Memory Map with the entire (mainland) UK covered in one seamless 'Landranger' 1:50,000 map. It's perfect for plotting the kind of routes that I do. The only thing it isn't good for is plotting a route though a big town or city, but I avoid them most of the time anyway. If I do have to plot a complicated urban route, I double check the details on Bikely, Multimap or Google Maps. 

A slight niggle with Memory Map is that it doesn't have any 'understanding' of the road network on the map. The map is basically just a huge image with altitude data overlaid. That means that MM can't plot routes for you, but I like that - I prefer to decide the detailed route for myself. Having said that, it is a bit of a pain plotting all the twists and turns in a long road. It would be good to be able to get MM to follow the road from 'here' to 'there'.

 

[deckertim]

Cheers all.

Plenty of ideas there to be getting on with. I'm looking for a decent route to go from Chatham, Deal, Eastney (Portsmouth) and Lympstone (Exeter) - possibly on to Bickleigh (Plymouth) as a solo ride over three (possibly 4) days next summer. Plenty of plotting to do

Chrisz, I see where you are going with this. A homage ride. Maybe you should do a few more days and go up to Spean Bridge.

 

[Chrisz]

Chrisz, I see where you are going with this. A homage ride. Maybe you should do a few more days and go up to Spean Bridge.

LOL! I'd need to add in quite a "few more days" for that! I'd love to but no chance of getting a Leave Pass from the LHSM - I'm already chancing it by doing the L2P for the ABF next year and done H4H rides last year and the ear before! Hopefully she'll start to get used to it and then i may do one from Spean Bridge down to Lympstone