Suggestions for Cycle Route Planner ?

[StuartsProjects]

Any suggestions for a decent on-line cycle route planer (UK) that can provide heights and height gained ?

Will be used on a PC.

Free to use preferably.

Ability to save routes on PC would be good.

 

[Peter.Bridge]

At the risk of stating the obviously wrong answer - I had just used Google Maps with the cycling option - seemed to route me off main roads and had the heights profile

The Woosh predictor seemed pretty good at giving exact details on % inclines

Woosh Predictor | Bike selection tool from Woosh

The Woosh Predictor, a tool to help you plan your commute requirements.

wooshbikes.co.uk

 

[matthewslack]

I just use OS maps app on phone and tablet, not free £25 per year, but the best mapping. If I want detail I count contour lines, but mostly I estimate distances using the 1km grid and only worry about the big ups.

Distance and route from theaa.coom/routeplanner, but that does not do hills.

 

[guerney]

I've given up on everything but Google Maps on PC for cycling route planning, then when on the road I set the noted points on the Google Maps app on the phone or tablet on my handlebars, one after the other to my destination. No cycling app seems fit for purpose. Unlike on PC, the Google Maps app doen't allow the user to drag routes to suit, which is utterly daft... However, I've just used the Firefox browser on my Android phone and tablet to autoroute for cycling, and was able to hold and drag the route as on PC, and it shows heights etc. on the left hand pane - switch Firefox to Desktop Mode, and you need to be at a suitable zoom level to enable dragging routes.

 

[saneagle]

If you want to see how you're doing, you can get a Huawei GT 3 watch that doesn't cost much. Out of all the smart watches, it's one of the easiest and longest life battery. I've had mine aboyt 3 years now, and it's been brilliant. It keeps records of your bike rides so you can compare one against another. It gives you all the data from its own GPS, including what your heart did and how many calories you burned. It doesn't plan cycle routes. It just shows what you did.

It has many other useful functions, like sleep monitoring, sms messages, buzzes when your phone rings when you're in the garden and you left your phone in the house, stress monitoring, oxygen level monitoring, etc. It's many times better than any Fitbit, Apple or Google watch. Works seemlessly.

 

[StuartsProjects]

I've given up on everything but Google Maps on PC for cycling route planning

I delved a bit further than I would normally do into Google maps, and found that at least it gives me the height between two locations.

It even looks like you can save routes too, maybe worth a bit more digging.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[StuartsProjects]

I am very unlikely to get anything along the lines of a smart watch unfortunatly, that sort of thing and phones with apps are not on my bucket list.

Might consider one if in a few years I start forgetting where I have been.

 

[saneagle]

I am very unlikely to get anything along the lines of a smart watch unfortunatly, that sort of thing and phones with apps are not on my bucket list.

Might consider one if in a few years I start forgetting where I have been.

I thought the same, but then I had to get one to monitor my health after I had some lung issues. Now, I wouldn't be without one.

You asked about saving routes. You don't need to because your Google timeline does it all, even when you don't want it to. Check yours out. It shows you everywhere you've been on every day for years - when you went to the corner shop, when you went to the pub, when and where you went to visit your local drug dealer (if you did) and everywhere else you went.

I just looked at mine. It says that at 18:43 on 7 Sept 2018, I travelled to the Little Bengal curry house by car, stayed there until 21:18, then travelled home by car for 7 minutes. It shows that last night I walked 0.6 miles to the Chasni curry house, arrived at 19:20 and stayed until 21:30 then walked home, arriving at 21:51. The exact route is recorded in detail.

Google Maps Timeline - Computer - Google Maps Help

Manage your Timeline Google Maps Timeline is a personal map that helps you remember routes and trips that y

support.google.com

 

[StuartsProjects]

You don't need to because your Google timeline does it all, even when you don't want it to. Check yours out.

I dont have a Google timeline nothing I carry tracks my locations, unless I am testing one of my own design tracker loggers, but they are not connected to the Internet anyway.

 

[saneagle]

I dont have a Google timeline nothing I carry tracks my locations, unless I am testing one of my own design tracker loggers, but they are not connected to the Internet anyway.

How do you call someone when you get a puncture then, because you said you don't fix them at the roadside?

 

[sjpt]

Our son swears by cycle.travel (https://cycle.travel/). He does much more extensive trips than we do.

 

[WheezyRider]

Our son swears by cycle.travel (https://cycle.travel/). He does much more extensive trips than we do.

You beat me to it

There is height info on there too and you can scroll thru the route giving height at each point.

 

[StuartsProjects]

How do you call someone when you get a puncture then, because you said you don't fix them at the roadside?

I dont need to call anyone, I always have a spare tube.

The puncture then gets repaired at home, in a cafe etc.

 

[guerney]

You beat me to it

There is height info on there too and you can scroll thru the route giving height at each point.

View attachment 52566

What I hate about all cycling apps, and this seems to be the same failing exhibited by that website, is that you can't specify "Avoid large dangerous roundabouts where I'll be crushed into street pizza". Routes are draggable on PC browsers to avoid said bloody dangerous killer roundabouts using cycling.travel, but not on phones and tablets, even with the browser in Desktop Mode - if you hold and and attempt to drag a route, it moves the map instead.

 

[StuartsProjects]

What I hate about all cycling apps, and this seems to be the same failing exhibited by that website, is that you can't specify "Avoid large dangerous roundabouts where I'll be crushed into street pizza". Routes are draggable on PC browsers to avoid said bloody dangerous killer roundabouts using cycling.travel, but not on phones and tablets, even in Desktop Mode - if you hold and and attempt to drag a route, it moves the map instead.

Or cmbined cycle paths and pavements where all the pedestrians are staring into objects held in their hands as they walk.

 

[guerney]

Or cmbined cycle paths and pavements where all the pedestrians are staring into objects held in their hands as they walk.

It's amazing how many cyclists I see doing the same, usually on pavements - I saw one cyclist nonchalantly eating chips with both hands while barrelling downhill on the road, which was quite a feat I thought.

 

[StuartsProjects]

I saw one cyclist nonchalantly eating chips with both hands while barrelling downhill on the road, which was quite a feat I thought.

My favourite was a guy I saw on the main road heading toward the hospital, where casualty is as it happens. Mobile phone in one hand and drinking a can of cider with the other, white van man almost hit him.

 

[StuartsProjects]

Our son swears by cycle.travel (https://cycle.travel/). He does much more extensive trips than we do.

Looks good, but there does not seem to be a way to force it to go somewhere if the map does not know about a path\road.

At a local industrial\shopping estate, there is a short path about 5m long that joins the pavement on the main road with one of the pavements outside a supermarket. But the route planner does not know about it and plots a route 700m long around all the other roads etc.

 

[Artstu]

I've used Komoot a few times, if I remember correctly you can use one location area for free, and a one-off payment for greater coverage. https://www.komoot.com/

 

[guerney]

Thanks for the tip.

I very much appreciate the tips on soldering from you and other soldering maestros on the forum, thanks for those - I utilised my newfound superpower last night to get a battery powered printer working without it's unobtainium battery. Having identified which tiny battery contact pins on the printer needed soldering together, I did so successfully and to my surprise, swiftly and neatly, but I did use flux. The printer's pouch battery had puffed up rapidly into a ball, and there was a loud bang as it blew the bloody battery door off.