[Closed] Ride With GPS route creation OFF road

There was a thread on Bearbones where someone mentioned turning off "Optimise for road" or something like that.

“Draw lines” is what you want, in the panel on the right hand side (you may need to scroll down a bit to see it). They don’t make it visually clear that those items in orange are part of a list of options which also contains “Follow roads”.

You can switch between “Follow roads” and “Draw lines” if you have mixed-terrain rides to Draw, too.

It's easy to do this in Basecamp. You can do it for small sections of an otherwise routed route too.

BEZZZZZ for the win!!! wow, that was hard going! jesus, not made very clear in the slightest, I tried clicking on the follow road button, assuming you clicked it on/off....not very intuitive at all!

thanks bez! sorted now, that's just driven me insane for the last 30 mins haha

Annoyingly/surprisingly it will actually plot along most footpaths (whilst using "follow roads"), but not bridleways ?!? So should you have any cheeky bits on your route it should save you a bit of time doing that rather than via "draw lines".

It uses Google's routing, so you can choose driving/cycling/walking in the "optimise for" box. Personally I find off road routing is too patchy to be really useful (I use the "draw lines" approach) but it sometimes works.

But then I think off road routes are ideally planned over OS maps if possible. Neither Google nor OSM show all the trails, nor are they as reliably descriptive of the trails.

I've found OSM paths/BWs/tracks to be similar to the black dashed lines on OS maps of Scotland - you can and should expect anything. 🙄

It's best to use Google maps/Bing/Geograph alongside whichever mapping program/site you prefer. Some bridleways whilst marked on the map might not exist on the ground - see the [url= http://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11445 ]first post in this thread[/url] for an example. Strava heatmaps can help as well, if a BW in a popular area has had little or no activity then there might be a reason ...

Edit: Just how accurate you need to be will also depend on where you are. Somewhere like [url= http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=303841&Y=809245&A=Y&Z=120 ]Bynack Mor[/url] on the Cairngorms Loop there's [b]a[/b] path, you are either on it or you aren't so tracing every single twist and turn is a bit of a waste of time, you only need the major turns and the path junctions. Conversely in Rothiemurchus Forest there's lots of options so being accurate is more important.

Scotland is special, though 🙂

Yeah, having Bing's OS maps alongside is my approach too. Also check out Geograph, which can be handy for checking out what unfamiliar paths are like (though it is one of the least user-friendly websites on the face of the planet… if I had time I'd write a better front end using their API).

@bez - yeah the main interface of geograph is appalling and I've moaned about it many a time but there's a [url= http://www.geograph.org.uk/browser/#!/display=map_dots/pagesize=100 ]zoomable Google maps page[/url] which is much more intuitive.

Aha! I was sure i found that feature a long time ago but never managed to find it again. Thanks 🙂

Now, if they could combine that interaction with the OS mapping…

It's best to use Google maps/Bing/Geograph alongside whichever mapping program/site you prefer.

Or just use [url= http://bikehike.co.uk/index.php ]bikehike.co.uk[/url].

Bikehike is great. I use the google maps bit for road whilst consulting the OS maps for contours - then switch over to draw on the OS map for off-road sections. When using OS I then put the Google bit on satellite so I can examine the trails visually. Handy for off-piste.

I also have it open side by side with Strava heatmap, which also helps show which trails are rideable and what exists off-piste.

does anyone know if you use bikehike (my preferred choice!) does it take the cue sheets across with it for turn by turn navigation? or just simply a breadcrumb line? for use on ridewithgps

molgrips - Member
Bikehike is great. I use the google maps bit for road whilst consulting the OS maps for contours - then switch over to draw on the OS map for off-road sections. When using OS I then put the Google bit on satellite so I can examine the trails visually. Handy for off-piste.

I also have it open side by side with Strava heatmap, which also helps show which trails are rideable and what exists off-piste.

This is how I do it as well. Next time I need to plan a route I'm going to have a go with Strava routes as I think you can plot over the heat map?

You ditched the Garmin and gone for something else OW?

Oscillate Wildly - Member
does anyone know if you use bikehike (my preferred choice!) does it take the cue sheets across with it for turn by turn navigation? or just simply a breadcrumb line? for use on ridewithgps

A complete guess but would that not be built into which ever file type you choose, .gpx .tcx etc.?

[url= https://ridewithgps.com/help/export-file-formats ]Here's the difference[/url] between the file types.

From Garmin's help pages:

[i]How do you know whether you should use a Route or a Track?

?Routes are best suited for reaching a specific destination, or set of destinations, when the path being taken is not important. When navigating a route, directions will be provided either as a straight line to the destination(s) or, when using a routable mapping product, as an automatically calculated path using available roads and/or trails. If you go off course on a route, the path will recalculate based on your current location.

Tracks are best suited when it's necessary to travel on a very specific path to reach the desired destination. When navigating a track it's possible to recreate an exact hike or ride that you or someone else has completed previously. If you go off course on a track, the GPS unit will redirect you back to the original path rather than recalculating a new one.[/i]

I find that RWGPS works better offroad if you optimise it for walking. You do still need to sometimes switch to draw lines as Bez suggested.

fathomer - Member

molgrips - Member
Bikehike is great. I use the google maps bit for road whilst consulting the OS maps for contours - then switch over to draw on the OS map for off-road sections. When using OS I then put the Google bit on satellite so I can examine the trails visually. Handy for off-piste.

I also have it open side by side with Strava heatmap, which also helps show which trails are rideable and what exists off-piste.

This is how I do it as well. Next time I need to plan a route I'm going to have a go with Strava routes as I think you can plot over the heat map?
You ditched the Garmin and gone for something else OW?

Oscillate Wildly - Member
does anyone know if you use bikehike (my preferred choice!) does it take the cue sheets across with it for turn by turn navigation? or just simply a breadcrumb line? for use on ridewithgps

A complete guess but would that not be built into which ever file type you choose, .gpx .tcx etc.?

yep, just trying out something new, got a good deal on a wahoo element bolt, not as nice as the garmin build wise, and non colour, but very intuitive and a simple device...

the only stipulation is you have to use ridewithgps to get turn by turn navigation (ie, turn left on the beast etc)....otherwise you just follow a bread crumb line with no guidance at all

ive dropped a few different .tcx .gpx into the ridewithgps site, and the cues do not come through at all with them, so simply copy and pasting all my old routes doesn't work (other than one continuous breadcrumb line)

ive created a few from fresh on ridewithgps, saved them, and they work instantly with cues..

just a long winded way I'm going to have to do every route I want manually to get the cues...no biggy, I just like keeping loads of routes on the device incase I change my mind on the day...