Hello,

Needing to plan some new routes for next year and was wondering which software is better, Memory Map or Tracklogs or even bikehike which is free online. Also would you use 1:25000 or 1:50000 OS maps.

Cheers
Simon

Personally I would always use 1:25,000 maps. Personally I can't get on with bike hike, there's minimal info on there. Personally I run both Memory Map and Tracklogs, and have a store of paper maps. It really depends what you want. Do you know how to read a map and plot a route? If so I'd recommend MM. That's just my personal opinion. Others will think differently, but then I'm a bit of a map freak!!!

(You can't get lost with an OS map and the knowledge of how to use it)

Personally, I agree. 😀

Where's the path is my tool of choice

http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm

The Memory Map website completely confuses me. Am I right in thinking you can't get 1:25,000 of anywhere you like, only national parks etc.?

you can get the whole country in 1:25,000 in memory map

Personally I would always use 1:25,000 maps

well done CM for using 'personal(ly)' 4 times in one para 🙂

(You can't get lost with an OS map and the knowledge of how to use it)

I can easily :o)

well done CM for using 'personal(ly)' 4 times in one para

Quite deliberate, because the knockers will be along soon, claiming to be able to navigate with three cabbage leaves and the entrails of a goat.

I like Anquet Maps too – maybe worth a look?

Like the look of Anquet too, downloading now.

Also try QUO V2 can purchase small tiles online rather than whole maps, pretty nice interface and a MASSIVE import / export options.

Personally I find OS maps completely over the top as I can easily navigate with three cabbage leaves and the entrails of a goat personally.

Your a better man than me then. Will check Quo2 as well, so many options you have made it even harder to decide

geoffj- Just had a look at wheres the path and I'm impressed. Very simple to use free and no registration required to generate a track. The layout works well on a wide screen monitor whereas with bike hike you get less than 1/4 of the screen in OS map. The OS maps are 50k and the 25k streetmap ones are not so good. It's a bit odd how the zoom on the left and right panes don't match.

Um, I've just ordered a tracklogs map for where I live but I'm looking at Where's the path and I have to ask, WTF am I paying for with Track logs..?

with bike hike you get less than 1/4 of the screen in OS map

Click the 'toggle map size' button to rectify that.

With where's the path, you can select just OS to give you full screen maps. I can't justify the cost of MM with stuff like this available for free.

I like tracklogs very much. Not only do I plot some long unridden routes on it but I also love to go back and plot my normal riding routes retrospectively on the map which gives me the info I need such as distance and height gain. Also I make nice looking route cards using Tracklogs which are very helpful for the B&B guests. I'm sure there is better out there but I'm very pleased with it.

The only issue with Where's the path is it can only serve a limited number of map tiles per day (or at least used to be limited like that, I know they increased the limit at one point and there used to be an indication of how many map tiles had been served which isn't there any more so not sure). So you might find that if you want to plan a route one evening you can only use the old OS out of copyright maps.

If you've got webspace it's easy enough to get set up so you have your own OS maps just for browsing. I've got an upload gpx file feature, can browse maps and toggle between os and google on my blog/website. All based on OS Openspace the same as Wheres the path.

I use MM (mainly as a friend had it and it appeared easy to use and do what I required)

Use OS50 maps, sometimes more dets would help but I started as a motorbike trail rider so needed size, with a grid ref, N marker and map you're sorted.

Been playing with Wheres the path for an hour or so now and am mighty impressed, really easy to use and can upload to my Garmin Forerunner 205 no problems. Can I justify the outlay for Memory Map now, I dont think so

sirichmond – to upload as courses rather than routes (allows more waypoints on the Foreunner)I'm using a combination of training center and this website http://www.gpsies.com/convert.do

A typical workflow is:

1. Plot route on Where's the path and export as GPX file – save to local drive
2. Convert to .tcx using http://www.gpsies.com/convert.do again saving to local drive
3. Open in Training Center and send the course to the unit.

Of course, part 1 can be done in just about any route planning programme.

ebygomm – when i go to your website my Avast AV says file name http://www.mikkel.org.uk/ebygomm has JS:ScriptPE-inf[trj] malware type trojan horse. Could be a false positive I suppose.

geoffj – Cheers for the advice on that I will have a look tommorrow.

I downloaded MM euro edition free trial and then Bought £50 worth of 1:25000 credits. With this I select "Activate visiable map area" to use as little credit as poss. Currently only downloaded for my local area so I have loads of credit left. GPS features and Mobile features also activated) (hope main prog is permanent!)

Not sure how economical this method is when you get beyond a certain coverage.

Avast AV says file name http://www.mikkel.org.uk/ebygomm has JS:ScriptPE-inf[trj] malware type trojan horse

Someone else told me about that, had a quick look but can't see anything nasty.

Can you do me a favour and see if this page sets off the same warning?

Both pages seem OK at the moment. Have you done something?

The page I linked to above is actually separate from the rest of the wordpress site so wanted to see if its was wordpress related or not.

From the wordpress side I've removed an i-frame I had in there to allow me to post by email from my mobile phone when I was on my bike trip.

Well it seems to have fixed the alert. I can see how you can upload and display gpx tracks using the openspace API but I can't see how you plot a new route so it can be exported to a GPS.

I can't see how you plot a new route so it can be exported to a GPS

I haven't got that functionality yet, I've got memory map so plotting routes online isn't a priority for me. I may do some more work on it again now it's winter time.

Another happy Anquet user. While much of any preference is down to how you get on with the packages, this is the one which regularly wins any back-to-back comparisons.