Living in the corner of a map

I have used a Bryton GPS for about 7 years now and its been a great device, but have decided to update it with a newer device. I am awaiting the delivery of a Wahoo Bolt. I want to use it as a primary navigation device as I live in the top corner of an OS map so depending on the direction of the route could have to take upto 4 maps with me on a ride!

So, to the questions.

1. I cannot identify bridleways on RWGPS or Komoot , is there any way to view this without having to reference from another system/map?

2. If I use a different mapping option I loose turn by turn, so any advice on following breadcrumb trails offroad?

OS used to do maps centred on any post code you wanted. They weren’t that cheap, but it was certainly less bulky than taking 4 maps. For the low tech solution.

Alternatively have a custom OS map printed with your house at the center. Quite reasonable cost from the OS shop…

£17 for a custom map isn’t too bad I suppose considering the use it would get, but may as well pay £20 subscription for the whole of the UK.

+1 for custom maps, I’ve got a few of them. One for my house as a wallmount and then a couple of others as regular folded maps for various places I’ve been to where a single ride would take 3 regular maps but with some careful planning, you can get it all on one custom one.

https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/shop/custom-made-maps.html

In terms of electronic stuff, what’s the basemap like on the Wahoo? RWGPS has various basemap options when you’re planning including OSM Cycle and OSM, they show bridleways and then when you upload the file it should just be a .gpx which will work even as a breadcrumb trail if there’s no basemap.

Wahoo Elmnt owner here.

If you use the OSM mapping on RWGPS, the bridleways are marked, but they’re a tad inconsistent in how they’re represented (some are green dashes, some brown, some small dashes, some longer, some a mix). So, if it’s an area you know well, and you know which ones the bridleways etc are and you just want to string them together, it’s easy enough to do.

For off-road route planning in areas I don’t know, I use the Ordnance Survey site, then export the .gpx, and import it into RWGPS.

As for following a route offroad, the track is usually pretty well defined on the ground anyway. You don’t really need turn-but-turn: if you get to a junction, or you’re not sure, just glance at the GPS to show you where you’re supposed to be going. If you stray from the route it will start beeping and flashing red anyway.

In terms of electronic stuff, what’s the basemap like on the Wahoo?

Very basic, but perfectly usable. I’ve not had a bridleway not appear on it.

For off-road route planning in areas I don’t know, I use the Ordnance Survey site, then export the .gpx, and import it into RWGPS.

Why do you import into rwgps? why not just upload the gpx straight to the wahoo?

Why do you import into rwgps? why not just upload the gpx straight to the wahoo?

Is an excellent question, for which I have no answer 🙂

This is the problem I have with RWGPS and OSM maps. It doesn’t show you all the paths, if you compare these two maps there is a clear bridleway missing form the OSM map.

Yeah, that’s not good.

TBH, I pay the £20 a year for the OS maps licence, I think it’s good value.

Yeah, that’s not good.
TBH, I pay the £20 a year for the OS maps licence, I think it’s good value.

Agreed its great value. I had a subscription in the past but didn’t use it a lot. Now I have a gravel bike it would get more use. The offline map feature is great to carry a backup map in your pocket.

The OS custom maps are printed with some kind of bubblejet printer and the definition and depth of colour isn’t as good as on a standard map. Plus, don’t do what I did and set it up with your home right in the middle because…. guess what? We are right on the blinkin’ fold!  Gaah!

I use Mapyx Quo (free download), purchase OS tiles for the area I want. Plot my route, print it out on A4 and take that with me. 50k OS tiles are currently 85p + VAT for 40km square tile.

OP, I take it you are referring to the bridleway that goes off to the west from the sharp turn in the road where the observation point is?

If you cycle through the map options on RWGPS it doesn’t show on any of the available maps, including OpenStreetMaps.

I guess there must be a way of informing OSM & getting the map updated, if it genuinely is an omission?

OP, I take it you are referring to the bridleway that goes off to the west from the sharp turn in the road where the observation point is?
If you cycle through the map options on RWGPS it doesn’t show on any of the available maps, including OpenStreetMaps.
I guess there must be a way of informing OSM & getting the map updated, if it genuinely is an omission?

Maybe, but this just one example of many I found while plotting one single route. At the moment I am thinking I will stick with using OS maps, and live with the fact that turn by turn wont work.

I guess there must be a way of informing OSM & getting the map updated, if it genuinely is an omission?

Yes, it’s open source.  You can ride the missing bridleway, record the GPX, and add it to the map yourself 🙂

Completeness varies, depending on location. Some places have more detail (sometimes too much detail) than the OS or other country’s equivalent “official” maps.

Yes, it’s open source. You can ride the missing bridleway, record the GPX, and add it to the map yourself
Completeness varies, depending on location. Some places have more detail (sometimes too much detail) than the OS or other country’s equivalent “official” maps.

So, could I map a route on OS maps, export then import to rwgps and it will complete the map? How does it know what type of path it is?

You record the route, and submit it to OpenStreetMap (which includes all manner of tags and stuff, including whether it’s a road, track, path, etc., or is a waymarked cycle route such as Sustrans/NCN etc.). Then all the apps that use OSM will eventually see it.

You can’t copy whatever’s on the OS map, since that’s a breach of copyright, but some organisations did put a load of satellite view stuff in to the public domain and permitting transcribing of image details in to the OSM map.

Think it uses some Java app. I was going to add stuff in, but here is so detailed that there was nothing left to map anyway.

I occasionally edit the OSM map to correct mistakes in tracks/bridleways. OSM seem to use a superset of everything so from a UK perspective it’s a bit confusing at first – for instance there’s the concept of “preferred” routes which are basically mandatory routes for a particular “class” of user. So a track will be marked as “preferred for horse riders” meaning that they should use that track in preference to other nearby routes. We don’t really have that in the UK.

There’s two things to mark up on the map: the physical and the legal. So a path/track might be passable by vehicles but legally a footpath or bridleway. This is the root (sic) of problems you get with the various mapping tools that use OSM, if a bridleway is simply marked as a track then the routing mechanism doesn’t recognise it as being valid for bikes so the autorouting will go off on some huge loop on roads to get to the next point you’ve added.

Once the changes are made to the core maps then it just depends how long it takes before it appears in those used by the mapping tools. I made a change about three months ago to the BW that goes past our house (it had a “gap” in the legal status where it crossed a ford) and Strava’s route builder hasn’t picked it up.

i use os maps, rather than pay the annual fee i buy the map at blacks £4.32 delivered (code: sale20) and download the digital map, then sell the paper on.. it works out about £1-2 a map. but they last forever

i use os maps, rather than pay the annual fee i buy the map at blacks £4.32 delivered (code: sale20) and download the digital map, then sell the paper on.. it works out about £1-2 a map. but they last forever

Are you from Yorkshire?

Is an excellent question, for which I have no answer

Think I have just answered this for you… Its easier to sync to the device from RWGPS.